The Knicks staged a workout this afternoon for Marquette's Dwyane Wade, a shooting guard. But they were wondering if he would still be available when they picked at No. 9 in the N.B.A. draft next Thursday. Shortly afterward, the uncertainty of the draft reared its head when Pavel Podkolzine, a 7-foot-5 Siberian center, pulled out.

That was good news for players like Wade, who were waiting to hear where they would fall in the draft and were likely to move up a notch with Podkolzine gone. It was not so good for the Knicks, who have one fewer player to choose from.

The Knicks are not certain whom they will select or in which spot they will be choosing. LeBron James will almost certainly go to Cleveland with the No. 1 pick, Darko Milicic will go second to Detroit and Carmelo Anthony third, the spot currently held by Denver.

"You have three players," Knicks General Manager Scott Layden said. "It looks like there is one other guy who would go, Chris Bosh, and after that it looks like it's wide open." Bosh, a 6-10 forward from Georgia Tech, was the Atlantic Coast Conference rookie of the year this past season.

Calls to Podkolzine's agent, Justin Zanik, were not returned, but the Knicks confirmed that they had received word of his withdrawal from his agent. According to an ESPN report, Podkolzine opted to remove his name because he did not have a guarantee of being selected in the lottery.