Jameer Nelson Wants to Be with Orlando Magic "for the Rest of My Career," According to Report

"My thing is, I definitely want to be here next year and for the rest of my career," Orlando Magic point guard Jameer Nelson tells Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. Robbins writes that the one-time All-Star has a choice to make about his future with the Magic, the only team for which he's ever played in his eight-year career, as he owns a player option for the 2012/13 season.

If Nelson uses that option, the former St. Joseph's star will earn $7.8 million in the last season of his contract and become a free agent on July 1st, 2013, along with Dwight Howard, with whom he shares team captaincy duties. As Robbins points out, it seems "counterintuitive" to think Nelson would turn down $7.8 million to become a free agent, but there are nonetheless some reasons to think he might do so, which reasons he highlights in his story.

"Nelson has to declare his intentions within a week of the Magic’s final postseason game," according to Robbins, but he's been too focused on basketball to make a decision one way or the other. "I’ll sit down with my team and my family at the end of the season and discuss what’s going on and what are the possibilities," Nelson says.

Nelson is averaging 11.9 points, 5.7 assists, and 2.4 turnovers for Orlando. He became an All-Star during the 2008/09 season, in which he scored 16.7 points per game on 50.3 percent shooting.

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