MILWAUKEE – Sam Cassell admits it: The rumors got to him. They excited him. They got his mind racing. Back in February, at the trade deadline, the word was out: The Bucks were looking to deal him to the Knicks in exchange for Latrell Sprewell.

“I heard that and I said, ‘God, please, God, let that be true, let that be true,’ ” Cassell said with a laugh yesterday after the Bucks’ practice. “The Knicks are my favorite team. New York is my favorite city. The idea of being able to work and live in New York . . . man, what would have been better than that?”

There was one problem with all of this, of course.

It turned out that none of the reports was true.

Still, the possibilities intrigued Cassell, who played with the Nets for part of three seasons from 1997-99.

“When I played in New Jersey, it wasn’t so much that I was thrilled with being in New Jersey as that I was 10 minutes from New York,” said Cassell, who lived in Teaneck when he played for the Nets. “I spent a lot of days and a lot of nights in the city. A lot of fun days. And a few long nights.”