Al

Harrington

His return will apparently force Joshes Smith and Childress to go back to fighting for minutes at the two.

Backup center Peja Drobjnak is also expected to return after missing the final four games before the break with a sprained ankle. Lue and Harrington will rejoin the starting lineup when healthy, though a possible trade of Antoine Walker and a burgeoning youth movement will shake up the rotation at some point. Harrington should remain a starter no matter what, but any value Lue has isn’t likely to last.

''It might be better for me to come off the bench,’' Harrington said. ''The way [coach] wants to run things through the post, particularly through me and Jermaine [O’Neal], if we were playing out there together all the time it might not work.’' Harrington should still have value in deep leagues.

Either way, Harrington isn’t expected to miss any games.

No question Harrington could start for most NBA teams and be an excellent fantasy contributor. But he says he’s happy in Indiana and the Pacers aren’t likely to trade him.

Harrington should play against San Antonio on Friday.

Hard to believe. It seems like the Pacers would have little trouble getting more than this for the 24-year-old Harrington.

Harrington would like to become a starter, something that probably won’t happen if he stays with Indiana. A trade is a possibility. The Bulls might give up the No. 3 pick for him, assuming they could also dump a bad contract in the trade.

“I’ll be on the phone later today for sure,” Chris Mullin said. “If they (the Hawks) want to do a basketball deal, they can do a good deal where we can be as big a player as anybody.” The Warriors are said to be offering forward Troy Murphy in a sign-and-trade.

“You can’t blame (Knight),” one league GM said. “He can’t be expected to take on other people’s garbage just to make a deal work, and that’s what always happens in these situations. Why should he take on a bad contract like (Indiana center) Jeff Foster’s? He’s doing the right thing here.” Minnesota is now rumored to be courting Harrington, while the Pacers appear to be falling out of the race.