Another day came and went without the Knicks being assured that Eddy Curry will receive a clean bill of health from doctors, further raising the possibility that the controversial sign-and-trade deal with the Chicago Bulls could be rescinded.

With Curry dressed in street clothes and standing 15 feet behind him, Isiah Thomas suddenly sounded less optimistic about the 22-year-old center joining the Knicks than he had been two days earlier when the trade was announced.

"I'm hopeful, I'm hopeful," Thomas, the Knicks' president, told reporters following yesterday's morning practice. "Two nights ago I didn't know. We had to get the doctors to do all the tests. Until the doctors come back and they say either he can or he can't, that's when you know. Right now everything we're talking about is speculative. We don't know."

The Knicks and Bulls have imposed a deadline of 6 tonight to complete the trade that sent Curry and Antonio Davis to New York for Tim Thomas, Michael Sweetney, Jermaine Jackson and draft picks.

The Knicks are awaiting the final tests on Curry, who missed the final 13 games last season with an irregular heartbeat. Curry went through a battery of tests in New York on Tuesday and Wednesday before flying here Wednesday evening with his personal trainer.

"I'm not a doctor," Thomas said when asked about the status of Curry's test results. "They could come back and request more tests. What I don't want to say here today is that he's done taking tests and the doctor calls this afternoon and says, 'We found this one thing and we want to do another test'" - leaving open the possibility that the teams' deadline could be pushed back.

Understandably, Thomas and the organization may be having second thoughts about acquiring a player whom the Bulls felt was enough of a health risk to trade away. The 6-11, 285-pound Curry was the fourth overall pick of the 2001 draft out of high school and is regarded as one of the best low post players in the league.