With Tim Thomas on his way out of Chicago, the idea of him returning to the Knicks was brought up at yesterday's practice. Sound far-fetched?

Maybe not. The Knicks are starving for a starting small forward, and Larry Brown acknowledged yesterday that if Thomas were still on the Knicks, he would have been playing substantial minutes instead of sitting on the bench as he has been doing in Chicago.

"He'd be playing a lot of minutes here," Brown said.

Bulls general manager John Paxson announced Monday that Thomas has likely played his last game for the Bulls and he plans to trade him.

Paxson said it was against league rules to trade Thomas back for Davis, but the Knicks do have a perfect match in Penny Hardaway. They make roughly the same money ($14 million) and are in the last year of their contracts. Hardaway has barely played this season -- due to tendinitis in his right knee and because he doesn't fit into Brown's scheme.