Wait Just a New York Minute!

Gee, we’re sorry we brought it up: Kobe Bryant fever swept New York last week with the report that some of his teammates think he might sign with the Knicks.

That news flash came from Monday’s update by our Tim Brown, a seven-paragraph notebook lead that ran on Page 9 of The Times’ sports section.

Not that this was meant to be a scoop, as Brown had reported it when he heard it -- on Nov. 5.

When we checked it out, we didn’t find the Knicks high on Bryant’s list. It looked more like a reflection of the common perception that Bryant wants his own team and major market, rather than anything coming from Bryant.

No one, aside from Bryant’s tiny, buttoned-up inner circle, knows. There are few teammates he confides in, so most of them are on the outside unless he vents in front of them, which has not happened recently.

Bryant insiders said there had been a clear expression of interest in the Clippers and ranked the San Antonio Spurs as a possibility. Not that it was conclusive, but no one had heard anything about the Knicks.

Phoenix, which came up later, when the Suns began creating salary-cap space, may be viable but has to move Jahidi White’s $5-million salary. The other teams with cap space -- Atlanta, Denver and Utah -- are just fooling themselves.

There are a lot more without cap space dreaming of sign-and-trades, such as the Bulls, who would carry Tyson Chandler (or Eddy Curry or their entire roster) here, piggyback.

Then there are the Knicks, who have raised fooling themselves to an art form.

Who can forget their 2002 pursuit of Yao Ming, sending a delegation to China, wining and dining him at the Chicago pre-draft camp while finishing with the seventh-worst record and a remote chance of drawing the pick.

It takes great powers of denial to court the top pick while your team makes a late-season push (they actually passed the Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets, who wound up with the fifth-worst record and drew Yao), just to put a better face on this disaster, but that’s one thing the Knicks have.

They proceeded on the assumption that Yao wanted to play in New York because of the large Chinese population. New Yorkers assume everyone has some reason for wanting to live in New York and aren’t completely wrong.

The Knicks would be serious players if they ever had cap space. Unfortunately, Scott Layden capped them out through 2006, then Isiah Thomas came in and capped them out through 2007, with about $30 million already on the books for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.

In hope-starved, clue-challenged Gotham, our little notebook hit talk radio like a wildfire. It was so hot, the New York Post’s Marc Berman covered back on it, citing The Times in a five-paragraph story under the headline:

“LAKERS SAY KOBE MAY SIGN HERE”

This sounded almost as if the Laker organization had conceded that Bryant was interested in the Knicks, suggesting a deal was possible.

This fanned the talk-radio flames even higher, leading to a New York Daily News rebuttal under the headline:

“ALLAN HURTING ANY KOBE DEAL”

That’s Allan Houston, whom the Knicks would want to send back, because they’re over the cap (just a tad; it’s $42 million and they’re at $94 million) and must match salaries.

Houston has been in and out because of knee problems. Because he’d previously missed 19 games in his 10-year career and is up to 23 and counting this season, it sounds serious.

Back on Earth, the Lakers had vowed never to trade Bryant long before he came back from the All-Star break playing the best ball of even his career.

These days, you don’t hear much of that “Shaq’s team” stuff. Nor is it “Kobe’s team,” the instinctive media response. It’s still Jerry Buss’ team, and it’s the combination of Shaquille O’Neal and Bryant that makes it special.

If the Lakers choose, they lose. If Shaq and Kobe split, the odds are, both will regret it.

On the other hand, kids are kids. It’s hard to grow up inside an entourage, and NBA history turns on superstars’ whims, such as the one that brought O’Neal here, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar before him, and Wilt Chamberlain before him.

Teammates and Bryant insiders still think he leans toward leaving. Happily for the Lakers, nothing means anything until July 1, when Bryant can opt out and anything is possible.

Their breakout against Sacramento on Wednesday showed what a powerhouse still lurks in their dressing room when they’re not busy disinvesting in each other.

You have to go back to Dec. 4 at Dallas for the last time they looked so happy to be together. That was the night they wiped the floor with the Mavericks and everyone, including O’Neal, broke up watching that Shaq-as-Fat Albert video.

A title and the attendant good feeling could keep this going. Of course, with eight free agents and an unsigned coach, they could also win a title and be unable to scare up five players and a master of ceremonies for the parade.

You don’t even want to think about what will happen if they don’t win a title. Among the Lakers, the good times are bad enough.

Faces and Figures

The scouts were at the NCAA tournament, but the brass -- Thomas, Indiana’s Larry Bird, Miami’s Pat Riley, Denver’s Kiki Vandeweghe -- went to a prep all-star game in Chicago. The big winner was Peoria (Ill.) Central point guard Shaun Livingston, who signed with Duke but might be a top-10 pick if he turns pro.

Hockey guys, they’re so, uh, lost: A former NHL player, John Weisbrod, now runs Orlando, and the Philadelphia 76ers are headed by Flyer owner Ed Snider.

Trying to back General Manager Billy King, Snider declared, “This was not Billy King’s first year of making deals. I mean, Larry Brown did not make the deals. Billy King made the deals. Larry could have vetoed the deal or could argue with Billy or whatever, but it was Billy King’s team that was put together here in the last while.”

Because most of the deals, such as bringing in lethargic Glenn Robinson and re-signing broken-down Derrick Coleman, turned out badly, the Philadelphia Daily News’ Phil Jasner felt obliged to add, “Snider made it clear he was saying that as a compliment to King.”

ESPN’s Bill Walton, wishing Rasheed Wallace well in Detroit (I think): “I would love to see him go on and achieve all the levels of greatness people have predicted for him forever. I would love to see him become a historical-level player, model his life after Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa, give up his own life for the sake of others and -- should I hold my breath?”

Overmatched Chicago GM John Paxson railed at reporters for being negative and demanded they take down his “vision,” omitting such details as the internal debate about trading Curry.

“Our guys are still young and learning,” Paxson said. “We’re trying to treat them like professionals and like men. It’s not always easy. But we’re not giving up on the young guys.”

Of course, coverage would be more positive if Coach Scott Skiles stopped ripping the young guys as if he were Don Rickles. That night, Curry lined up wrong in a loss to New Jersey and Skiles noted, “We didn’t execute either one of our last plays too well, especially the one where we tried to go in to Eddy. I guess the first 10,000 times we went over that play weren’t enough.”

Maybe Paxson should explain his vision to Skiles. Better yet, Paxson should get Jerry Krause to explain it to him.

The Kings, who were 43-15 without Chris Webber, are 8-6 with him, and Arco Arena fans booed him during a two-for-21 night against the Golden State Warriors. “That’s life,” Webber said. “You come back after 10 months and you’re hurt, and if that’s what they want to do, that’s what they’ll do. A lot of people told me when I signed here that was going to happen.”

Good luck: With Houston, Tim Thomas and Stephon Marbury out or slowed by injuries, Isiah Thomas says it would be a good season even if the Knicks didn’t make the playoffs:

“Considering where we were Dec. 22 [when he was hired] and where we are now, most teams that hadn’t made the changes, they are not in it.... These guys have fought to get in it.”