John Denton of the Florida Today reports: Already staggered and stunned by the loss of Grant Hill to a second season-ending surgery, things got worse Wednesday for the Orlando Magic when Tracy McGrady was sent to Atlanta for tests on his sore back.

Doctors did not find any structural damage, but the injury is serious enough that McGrady will remain in Atlanta through the weekend to receive further treatment and tests.

The Magic are concerned because the injury has become a recurring problem for the 22-year-old superstar. McGrady missed 41/2 preseason games because of back spasms, but didn't begin experiencing pain again until last week. McGrady strained his lower back in the first quarter of Sunday's loss in Seattle and was unable to return. A six-hour flight back to Orlando Sunday night only worsened the injury and McGrady needed help from teammates getting off the plane.

"It's frightening," Magic general manager John Gabriel said. "Right now, all early indications and pictures that we've taken are negative, but you don't want to mess around with any injury, much less a back injury. A player capable of doing the things T-Mac can physically and athletically we want to take every precaution and not be distracted."

McGrady's injury came on the heels of Hill having season-ending ankle surgery Wednesday morning in Baltimore. Doctors operated on Hill for the third time in 20 months, this time removing bone spurs from the top of his left ankle and reinforcing the fracture on the inside of the joint that had been operated on twice already. Dr. Mark Myerson, who performed the surgery on Hill's ankle last January, reinforced the fractured area by drilling several small holes in Hill's ankle and packing them with blood plasma. He already has five screws and a metal plate in the ankle from the two previous surgeries.

Hill was in surgery for an hour and Gabriel described him as "resting comfortably." Hill, who will be in a cast for another month, could return to Orlando as early as today, but likely won't be back on a basketball court again until next June.