With Kobe Bryant a long shot to land in New York, the Knicks will set their sights on acquiring Rashard Lewis via sign-and-trade.

Knick management believes it can reel in the all-star-caliber Lewis and contend in the East.  

Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed that the Knicks plan to pursue Lewis in a deal with the Sonics and Lewis seems to want to play in the limelight of New York.

"We're not going to set ourselves back," team president and head coach Isiah Thomas said. "We sit in a very comfortable position right now in terms of our base."

Thomas said that the East "is still going to be open."

"And until somebody makes some major changes or some major trades, I think you'll probably be looking at the same group of characters again," Thomas added. "Hopefully, we'll be one of the characters in the playoffs next year."

The Knicks feel Lewis' outside shot and skill set are the right fit next to Eddy Curry's inside game.

Sonics and Storm owner Clay Bennett says he's "out of ideas" for landing an arena deal in Seattle and plans to file this November with the NBA for permission to move the teams after next season.

In an interview published Wednesday by his hometown Oklahoma City newspaper, Bennett said he'll continue to explore any arena ideas Seattle leaders bring to him.

But Bennett told The Oklahoman he is "probably as pessimistic as I've ever been," and that he plans to file immediately for relocation if an Oct. 31 deadline passes without an arena deal in the Seattle area.

The Sonics wanted to get a long look at 2006 second-round pick Yotam Halperin this summer and evaluate his chances to make the club this fall.

That won't happen.

Halperin, hoping to be the first Israeli to play in the NBA, rejected the Sonics' offer to play in the Las Vegas summer league and won't come to the states this summer.

According to Sonics' director of player personnel David Pendergraft, Halperin wanted a guarantee to make the Sonics' roster. Pendergraft, despite his admiration for Halperin's improved skills, would not make that promise.

"There's a good reason for us as a team to do what we did and a good reason for him to do what he did," Pendergraft said from the NBA pre-draft camp. "I saw him a month ago and he's (talented). I have no doubt he will be in the NBA soon, but I don't want to make that commitment without a new general manager."

Halperin, 23, averaged 6.5 points, two assists and 1.1 steals for Maccabi Tel Aviv this season in 24 minutes per game.

The Oklahoma City businessman who owns the SuperSonics says he is losing hope that a way will be found to keep the NBA team in Seattle.

"I'm probably as pessimistic as I've been," Clay Bennett told The Oklahoman Tuesday. "Not to say I've lost complete hope. We'll evaluate thoroughly any potential lead, but we're out of ideas."

Bennett said he has begun preliminary discussions with Oklahoma City and Kansas City about possible relocation.

"My expectation and my belief is that if we leave Seattle, we're quite likely headed to Oklahoma City," Bennett said. "But that decision has to be made with appropriate due diligence. We have to do that work. Just can't proclaim we're moving here."

He said that when he and his partners first bought the Seattle SuperSonics last summer, he would drive around the Puget Sound area marveling.

"I couldn't get my hands around what good fortune, to have a team in that marketplace with a new facility," said Bennett. "I really thought we would get a deal done. An extraordinary opportunity.

"But lately, I don't have those same feelings."

Sonics president Lenny Wilkens said Tuesday he plans to have a general manager in place before the June 28 NBA draft and made it clear that he is able to speak with any candidate even if their team is in the playoffs.

That last bit of information debunked previous reports out of San Antonio that Sam Presti ? the Spurs assistant general manager who is believed to be the leading candidate for the GM job in Seattle ? is unable to interview while his team is still playing.

"That has no bearing on anything," Wilkens said outside the Milk House Gym, where the NBA is conducting its four-day predraft camp at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.

Detroit's Tony Ronzone and John Hammond and Phoenix's David Griffin are also possibilities, but Wilkens was careful not to mention names.

According to NBA insiders, the Knicks could make the Sonics a sign-and-trade offer for forward Rashard Lewis that could include Seattle natives Nate Robinson and Jamal Crawford.

Crawford is owed $35 million over the next four seasons, and the Knicks could add Robinson's contract or that of Channing Frye to come within 75 percent of a new Lewis deal, per rules of the collective bargaining agreement.

Wilkens said Tuesday that the Sonics plan to sign Lewis, who opted out of his contract Friday and will be an unrestricted free agent July 1. To execute a sign-and-trade, the Sonics would have to sign Lewis to a new contract and then trade him.

The Sonics have the advantage in re-signing Lewis because they can offer him a six-year deal, compared with five for other clubs, and give Lewis 10.5 percent increases per season, compared with 8 percent for other clubs.

"He is a young player who was having a great year, and he wants to explore the market," Wilkens said. "Yes (there are plans to re-sign him). He is an asset for us. We still want him, and we're going to try everything we can get him signed."

The Knicks, however, have made Lewis a major priority.

San Antonio assistant GM Sam Presti is still believed to be the leading candidate. Citing team policy, Presti declined to comment on the Sonics job while the Spurs are still in the playoffs.

There's speculation that Seattle is interested in former Orlando GM John Gabriel.

Rashard Lewis' agent said Friday night that the Sonics' longest-tenured player and second-leading scorer had officially opted out of the final two years of his Seattle contract. That makes him eligible for free agency beginning on July 1, but doesn't necessarily end his career with the Sonics.

"It gives him options. And this is what free agency is for," agent Tony Dutt said in Houston, after officially informing the Sonics in writing what Lewis had promised before the end of the just-completed season.

The Sonics have one advantage over the rest of the NBA with Lewis now in free agency: They are the only team who can offer him a six-year contract.

Kevin Durant isn't even a SuperSonic yet. Heck, he's not even 19.

Yet the dynamic Texas forward and likely No. 2 pick in next month's NBA draft is already -- probably unwittingly -- assuming the role of potential savior for the Sonics' dead-end, 2007-08 season.

"This is potentially a franchise-changing [event]," Sonics president of basketball operations Lenny Wilkens said after his team won the second pick in the NBA's draft lottery to presumably land Durant. Portland is expected to take center Greg Oden with the first overall pick.

Oden and Durant are considered the only two can't-miss prospects in the June 28 draft. They are the best of the first prodigies forced into college for one year by a new NBA rule prohibiting high schoolers from jumping straight into the league.

Sonics CEO Danny Barth said a "transformation is already beginning" because of Durant's expected arrival.

Bryan Byrnes, the team's senior VP of sales and marketing, said late Wednesday afternoon that the Sonics had sold about 100 new full-season ticket packages and dozens more partial-season plans since Tuesday night's lottery jackpot.

Orlando Magic officials have contacted the Spurs to speak with assistant P.J. Carlesimo about their head-coaching job, an NBA source said Saturday.

Carlesimo, who declined comment, has served on Spurs coach Gregg Popovich's staff for the past five seasons. He was previously head coach at Portland and Golden State.

The Magic dismissed coach Brian Hill on Wednesday.

Seattle officials also have had a brief conversation with the Spurs about Carlesimo and fellow assistant coach Don Newman. The Sonics also are expected to seek permission to speak with assistant general manager Sam Presti about their general manager vacancy.

While the Spurs are in the playoffs, Popovich is aware some of the teams with openings are working on a different timeline. Two years ago he allowed Carlesimo and Danny Ferry ? who left the Spurs to become Cleveland's general manager ? to interview for jobs during a break between playoff games.