siah Thomas' intention is to trade Penny Hardaway's expiring contract by the Feb. 23 deadline, but the Knicks president may wait until that day before pulling the trigger, believing offers will get stronger.

The Post reported Sunday he was discussing a deal for Hardaway with four teams ? Seattle, Denver, Orlando, Portland ? trying to create more room under the salary cap. A league executive who has spoken to Thomas said yesterday that a fifth team is slowly emerging and could be the Timberwolves or Lakers. The Knicks want an established young player such as Earl Watson, Marko Jaric, Reggie Evans, Darius Miles or Lamar Odom.

The Knicks and Lakers were discussing a deal of Hardaway for Odom, but Los Angeles was hellbent on having Channing Frye included, and the Knicks rejected it. Word out of L.A. is Thomas would have gone for it had the Lakers added rookie center Andrew Bynum.

A source said while Frye is virtually untouchable, two significant assets or a Kevin Garnett-type player would have to come in return.

"Isiah believes there's four, five teams desperate for Hardaway's contract, because there aren't a lot of Hardaways [players with maximum expiring contracts] out there this year," a person familiar with the situation said. "He thinks the offers will get better between now and the deadline. But it has to make sense for the future."

If Hardaway (making $14.7M) is not traded, the Knicks likely will waive him to create a roster spot to sign a CBA point guard.