Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Smith could become the third player to win consecutive NBA slam dunk contests when he participates in the event during All-Star weekend.

Michael Jordan won back-to-back competitions in 1987-88 and Jason Richardson did it in 2002-03.

Joining Smith in contest this year will be Andre Iguodala of the Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks 5-foot-9 guard Nate Robinson and Hakim Warrick of the Memphis Grizzlies.

Jalen Rose and Eric Williams are players who have garnered interest from several teams, most notably the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers, respectively.

There is a good chance that management felt that Rob Babcock was unlikely or unwilling to pull the trigger on a deal for one or both of them, and could not provide a suitable reason to keep them around eating away at the team's salary cap while providing little in the way of building for the future.

Knicks coach Larry Brown came close to waving the white flag on the season during yesterday's morning shootaround.

And then his players made a full surrender last night, quitting in the second half of the disgusting 120-101 blowout loss to the Hawks (12-31) at the more than half-empty Philips Arena.

Team Titanic, which fell behind by 30 points early in the fourth quarter, is not deserving of being part of tonight's big show at the Garden when Kobe Bryant and the Lakers come in. The way the Knicks defended against the Hawks, Bryant just might rack up his 100 points tonight.

Brown was livid afterward, saying his team quit.

"Looked that way, didn't it?" Brown said. "Looked that way to me. The second half we looked like we wanted to get home."

In losing last night, the Knicks, owning the highest payroll and with its president embroiled in a sexual harassment suit, have the NBA's third-worst record, falling to a season-worst 15 games below .500 at 14-29.

"We didn't compete at all as far as trying to win the game," said Stephon Marbury.

Before the game, Brown made his strongest statement the Knicks are focusing on next season and not on making a playoff push. The Knicks' coach acknowledged it's time to look at the future, spotlight the young guys, even the obscure 20-year-old center Jackie Butler, the only man who showed up to play (15 points, four blocks).

"The way the season's going, [Butler] may have to play more and more," Brown said beforehand. "We're 14-28. It might be in this team's best interests to think about playing guys like him."

Maurice Taylor was stunned at Brown's quitting assertion.

"Throwing in the towel, that's ludicrous," Taylor said. "It's a bad game granted. It's too bad of a conference to do that. We have [39] games to go. No reason for us to quit."

Antonio Davis served a five-game suspension for rushing into the stands in defense of his wife, but his return to the court will have to wait.

Davis, who was set to start Monday night against the Atlanta Hawks, was a last-minute scratch because of lower back pain. Maurice Taylor started in his place.

Before the game, Davis gave no indication that his back was hurting. New York was blown out by the Hawks 120-101 for its eighth loss in nine games.

"You worry about your timing and you worry about your wind and stuff like that. I've been shooting the ball and running a little bit," Davis said. "It's just going out here now and forgetting that I've been out and try to get back in and make sure I know what's going on out there on the floor and that we're just not lost as a team. So that's my only thing."

Trevor Ariza, despite being inactive three straight games and buried in Brown's doghouse, said he doesn't want to be traded.

"I'm young, being patient," Ariza said. "This is where I started. I want to be part of the future."

Anucha Browne Sanders and Frank Murphy are listed as senior vice presidents with full-page bios in the Knicks media guide.

Both worked under Isiah Thomas and both are gone now. Sanders left before filing a sexual harassment suit against Thomas. Two sources said Murphy's departure also came under suspect circumstances, despite the club's company line that he retired.

Two sources said Murphy, the senior VP of Basketball Operations who managed the team's salary cap and structured contracts, agreed to a "retirement settlement" late in preseason only after a "wild argument" with Thomas.

"It's been a well-kept secret in the organization what the argument was over," one source said. "Even the top executives like Anucha didn't know."

A Knick official said Murphy actually was the liason between Sanders and Thomas. Hence, Sanders and Thomas did not speak often, the Knick official said.

The Knicks say several different people have inherited Murphy's job. Murphy, 64, had worked for the Knicks since 1990.

"I have no comment," Murphy said. "I'm just enjoying retirement."

The NBA is investigating a complaint by the Magic that the New York Knicks used an inactive player in Friday night's game at Madison Square Garden, club sources told The Sentinel.

The Magic say that the active roster that Coach Brian Hill and his staff received from the Knicks before the game had forward Jackie Butler listed as inactive. Teams have up to an hour before game-time to identify and submit their active and inactives.

Butler, a rookie out of Coastal Christian Academy (Va), entered the game with six minutes, 18 seconds left in the first quarter and played 1:46 and the came back for just 10 seconds in the second period. He did not play in the second half.

New York Knicks president Isiah Thomas delivered another strong statement Friday, saying he was never in love with the former team executive that is suing him for sexual harassment.

Thomas attacked the allegations made by Anucha Browne Sanders, the Knicks' former senior vice president of marketing and business operations, in a statement he gave before the Knicks' game against the Orlando Magic at Madison Square Garden.

Browne Sanders filed a lawsuit Tuesday, saying she was fired last Thursday "for telling the truth" while going through internal channels to stop the harassment. She has accused Thomas of telling her he was "very attracted" to her and "in love" with her and tried to kiss her.

"First of all, I never, ever made any sexual advances toward Anucha," Thomas said. "Nor am I in love with Anucha. Nor did I ever tell her that I was in love with her. Nor did I ever invite her to any off-site premise to have sex with her."

Larry Brown yesterday made a plea for Knicks owner James Dolan not to mess with embattled Isiah Thomas' job.

Brown, asked directly if he's worried about Thomas' future with the team following the sexual-harassment lawsuit brought against him, said, "I just know how much Mr. Dolan cares about him and how loyal he is, so hopefully this thing will just play itself out. I'm confident he's been truthful and things will work out."

Basketball legend Isiah Thomas' accuser was offered $250,000 to make her harassment claims disappear, a source close to the Knicks president claimed yesterday.

But Anucha Browne Sanders rejected the deal - saying only a $6.5 million settlement could stop her landing a stunning lawsuit against the Knicks president, the source said.

"She wanted $6.5 million," said the insider.

"The Garden offered $250,000, and that's when she said, 'Okay, we are going to sue.'

"Her lawyer's now saying the $6.5 million demand is not true, but yes, there was negotiation and yes, the $6.5 million figure was very real."

Browne Sanders' lawyer, Kevin Mintzer, said last night he wouldn't comment on settlement discussions, "other than to say that the $250,000 figure is wrong."

The source close to Thomas said an out-of-court settlement was now extremely unlikely.

"If they were going to settle, they would have settled before this suit was filed," he said.

"This is now going to court. It's very embarrassing and not good for anyone. If it was going to be settled, it would have been settled before any of this became public."