"I'm not trying to go nowhere," Eddy Curry said after the Bulls' practice. "There's no way I want to leave Chicago, under no circumstances. Right now, I'm just trying to get all this past me and move forward."

The trade rumors began on Tuesday night with Curry's first game of the season. Despite losing more than 30 pounds over the summer and working hard on his game, Curry again looked lost. He didn't take a shot until the second quarter, didn't play in the fourth and finished with six rebounds and three points.

Curry and the rest of the Bulls were showered with boos during the 94-74 loss to the Suns, which dropped them to 0-3.

Curry said he talked to agents, Darren White and Lamont Carter, after the game as he usually does.

"I just told them I was upset. That was just how I was feeling," Curry said. "I just was talking to them like I would anybody I felt was close to me. 'I'm frustrated and all of this,' and 'Losing and this and that and this and that.' I just didn't expect for it to get out."

But he awoke Thursday to learn that White was asking the Bulls to trade their 7-foot center, drafted out of high school with Tyson Chandler in 2001 to be the cornerstones of the next dynasty.

Only White hadn't gone to Paxson with his trade demand. He'd gone to the Chicago Sun-Times.

"I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it," Curry said. "I definitely had a few choice words for them yesterday. I said it was something that was definitely out of order. ... I never meant for it to get out like that."

Paxson wasn't happy, either, saying White and Carter should have come to him first.

"I'm sure he vented to his agent, and I think Darren took that as he's trying to protect his player so his first reaction is he doesn't want to see that happen again so I need to get him out of here," Paxson said. "When the reality is that none of us are doing any player a favor if we give him the easy way out. I think Eddy understands that."

Paxson met with the team Thursday to make sure the situation didn't become a distraction. Curry left that day's practice early to see a doctor after spraining his right knee, but he called Paxson later to patch things up.

When Curry returned to the Bulls' practice facility, the two sat down to talk things over.

"(Eddy) hasn't told me he wants to leave," Paxson said. "Eddy has made it clear that he did not authorize those things being said. It ended up being a story when it should be a non-story. It's done and over with."

For now, maybe. But with so much invested in Curry and Chandler and the Bulls still so bad, the futures of the prep-to-pro projects will continue to be a hot topic.

Paxson didn't offer either a long-term extension by the Oct. 31 deadline, so the two must have big seasons if they want the big bucks. Both will be restricted free agents this summer.

Six teams reportedly expressed interest in Curry after White's trade demand, and Paxson said he will continue to listen if teams call - just as he would with any player.

"I wouldn't be working in the best interest of the Bulls if I didn't," Paxson said. "You have to take calls and you have to look at every possibility to get better. We don't have a great, great player, so there's obviously no one on our roster that we would consider untradable. That's just the way it is.

"But," he added, "it doesn't mean we're going to go out and make a trade just for the sake of a trade."

And Curry said he's told his agents to back off and stop trying to line up a trade.

"This is where I want to be," he said. "Right now, Chicago is the only team that matters to me."