Nearly a year ago, Lenny Cooke sat contentedly at Junior’s Restaurant in Downtown Brooklyn and announced his entry into the NBA Draft.

Los Angeles Clipper Elton Brand, one of many in the league who had befriended Cooke when they played in summer league tournaments, sat nearby.

“It’s going to be a tumultuous road for him,” said Brand, who left Duke after his sophomore year. “It will be tough for him, but there’s no turning back now. It’ll work out for him… I hope.”

Brand, like everyone else around the much-traveled Cooke, is still hoping.

Last week, Cooke again sat at Junior’s, in a borough he still calls home, but rarely travels to anymore.

“I have no reason to come here,” said Cooke, who was often mentioned in the same breath as high-school phenom LeBron James and had been considered a possible lottery pick. “All the people that said they were my friends, they’re gone now.”

Indeed, whose basketball odyssey took him from LaSalle in Manhattan, Northern Valley in Old Tappan, as well as Flint, Michigan, now travels in a much smaller circle, consisting mainly of his agent of nine months, Ken Glassman, his cousin Marcus, Scotty and DJ Clue from Hot 97. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still have fans.

“Is that Lenny Cooke?” a woman asks as the 6-7 Cooke, still only 20 years old, stands outside Junior’s. “Doesn’t he play for Seattle?”

She asks for an autograph. Cooke complies and tells her he doesn’t play for the Sonics. He signed with Seattle after not being drafted, but didn’t make the team, no doubt hurt by the fact that he hadn’t played organized ball since suiting up for eight games for Northern Valley almost 18 months before. He was also sidetracked by a toe injury during pre-draft workouts, where he intended to prove his worth.

That’s what Cooke was doing until early this month, as he tried out with other hopefuls for a spot in the USBL. He was working out with the Westchester Wildfire, impressing coaches and scouts alike, when he was fouled as he went up for a dunk.

Cooke landed on his right elbow and immediately feared the worst.

“I felt this was my opportunity and I thought I wasn’t going to be able to play,” said Cooke, who gets financial support from his friends and uses that to help support his three-year-old son, Anahijae. “I thought it was broken and that might have been it.”

That, he said, was the only time since being passed over in the draft – including when he was cut from the NBDL in November – that he got depressed.

“Until [doctors] told me it wasn’t broken, I had all kinds of thoughts going through my head,” said Cooke, who suffered a dislocation. “I didn’t know what I was going to do.”

He expects to be back in a couple of weeks, probably playing for the Brooklyn Kings. Both Brooklyn coach Ken Charles and Wildfire coach John Starks said they would love to have Cooke on their rosters when he gets healthy.

“It looks like [Cooke] understands the game well, especially since he hasn’t played that much recently,” Starks said. “He’s been through a lot of struggles and you can tell he has more appreciation for the game than most guys do. He definitely has NBA potential.”

Cooke will settle for getting on the court with anyone.

“I just want to play,” said Cooke, who would earn around the USBL standard of between $400-$500 per week with the hopes of getting an invite to an NBA summer league team in June. Not quite the same as the several million he expected when he entered the draft. “Give me the minimum right now. I just want to play.”

For now, he would love to play for the Kings, who play their home games at LIU.

“I want people to see me play,” Cooke said. “No one had the chance to see me. I want to show I’m the player Brooklyn heard I am. Other players from New York have quit. I’m not going to.”

LENNY’S SCHOOL DAZE

Grade School

9 Franklin K. Lane (N.Y.), failed

9 La Salle Academy (N.Y.)

10 La Salle Academy (N.Y.), fall and spring terms

10 Northern Valley, Demarest (N.J.), summer

11 Northern Valley, Old Tappan (N.J.)

12 Northern Valley, Demarest (N.J.) 12 Mott Adult High School, Flint (Mich.)

LENNY’S HIGHLIGHTS

* Averaged 30 points and 15 rebounds at LaSalle.

* Named MVP at 2000 ABCD Camp.

* Projected as late-first-round, early-second-round pick in 2002 NBA Draft.

* Signs as free agent with Seattle Supersonics July 2002.

LENNY’S LOWLIGHTS

* Leaves Mott Adult High School in 2002 without diploma.

* Goes undrafted in 2002 NBA Draft.

* Cut during free-agent try-out by Supersonics, Sept. 2002.

* Cut by NBDL’s Columbus Riverdragons, Oct. 2002.