Phil Jackson is fanning speculation Kobe Bryant will head to New York Knicks by hinting this season will be the Hall of Famer's last year in Los Angeles but not his last in the NBA.

"I don't think it's his last year," Jackson told the New York Post as he and Knicks coach Derek Fisher fielded questions about the man they have come to know as well as anyone else in NBA circles. "Sounds like maybe his last year as a Laker, but I think that's kind of what came out of there."

Two irrefutable things are this will be NBA season No. 20 for the 37-year-old Bryant, and he can become a free agent by the start of next summer. By then, the Knicks and president of basketball operations Jackson, under whom Bryant won three NBA titles, will be flush with cap space and thus able to make Bryant an offer he may not be able to refuse.

It also doesn't hurt that in Fisher and star forward Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks' regime already boasts two people Bryant is closest to in all of basketball.

"I just want him to be healthy, basically, and then go from there," said Fisher, no doubt recalling that Bryant's last three seasons have been drastically cut short by a torn Achilles tendon, fractured left knee and torn rotator cuff.

"I, personally, wouldn't like this to be his last year playing basketball. I don't think the game of basketball deserves for him not to play."

As for managing the still recuperating superstar the team has, Fisher added Anthony will be under no restrictions once training camp opens next week.

"Medically speaking, I think he is a full go," Fisher said. "I had a conversation with doctors recently. So medically, he will be fine."