The Conference Finals got muscled out of the spotlight yesterday when Lakers guard and perennial MVP candidate Kobe Bryant demanded a trade.

“I would like to be traded,” said Bryant during a radio interview. “Tough as it is to come to that conclusion, there really is no alternative.”

Bryant is upset with the Lakers’ failure to construct a contender in the three years since he signed his new contract and the confusion among the ownership group about the team’s current lack of direction.

Although he mentioned the Los Angeles Clippers and the Chicago Bulls as two teams he considered signing with when he was a free agent three years ago, Bryant named no particular preferences this time. “At this point, I’ll go play on Pluto.”

Since the league’s expansion hasn’t gotten there yet, he’ll likely have to play for one of the other 29 NBA teams, and it’s likely that 28 will be very interested. San Antonio is probably the only team that can afford to sit this one out as they seem to be about three weeks from holding their fourth championship celebration in eight years.

The other 28 teams neatly divide into three camps, the teams with only a pipe dream of getting Bryant, who has a no trade clause in his pact, teams with genuine interest but a lack of feasible secondary details to make a deal attractive to the Laker front office, and teams with a realistic shot at landing Kobe.

Sad to say, the Knicks head the list of pipe dreamers. Kobe’s arrival would return electricity to the Garden on a nightly basis, but it’s hard to imagine the Lakers accepting the Knicks very best package: Steve Francis (to make salaries balance), David Lee, Channing Frye, and two or three other young players. Not that those aren’t good players, but Lakers’ GM Mitch Kupchak can do better, and if Kobe was happy playing for a mediocre team in a big market, then he would have kept his mouth shut. Boston, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Orlando, Cleveland, Detroit, Toronto, Atlanta, Phoenix, Memphis, Denver, Sacramento, Miami, Houston, and Golden State are all in the same boat. There isn’t anything that they could realistically offer (the Suns aren’t offering Amare Stoudemire for anybody) the Lakers that couldn’t be beat by another team.

Portland, Seattle, Utah, Minnesota, New Orleans, and the Clippers, all have intriguing prospects, but I doubt the Lakers will want to trade Bryant to a Western Conference team where he could come to the Staples Center several times a year to haunt his former employers, and neither Pacific Northwest team is going to part with its first round pick. Washington has the parts to make a deal but their backcourt isn’t a problem; it’s their defense.

Chicago, Indiana, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Dallas can make effective offers under the rules of the cap and offer Bryant potentially great situations. I think we can count Indiana out as Kobe would only want to play there if he was going to be paired with Jermaine O’Neal and the Lakers would only accept a Pacers package that includes Indiana’s disgruntled big man. With a different management team, the 76ers would be an attractive option, and an Andre Miller/Andre Igoudala/Bryant perimeter three would be formidable. But the Lakers are unlikely to take back a package of center Samuel Dalembert, some expiring salaries and the Sixers lottery pick.

Dallas has the parts to make a solid offer, probably one consisting of Josh Howard, Jason Terry, Jerry Stackhouse, and draft choices. But I doubt the Lakers will agree to trade him to a team on the verge of a title.

So that leaves Chicago and New Jersey. I doubt L.A. would accept any package from Chicago that doesn’t include both Ben Gordon and Luol Deng. Yet the Bulls should feel that as presently constituted they are a year away from a return to the NBA Finals. While they could trade for Bryant, it’s hard to imagine them messing with this group unless it’s for Kevin Garnett, whose size fills a void in a way that Bryant doesn’t.

All this means that Nets’ team president Rod Thorn already should be weary from working the phones and studying contracts all night. The Nets have gone as far as they can go with their current group, so radical revision in order. If I’m Thorn, I try to see if I can manage a sign and trade with Vince Carter plus a first rounder or two for Bryant. Then he should move Richard Jefferson and Nenad Krstic to Indiana for O’Neal. The result would be a much stronger big three and probably entice New Yorkers to stop waiting for the team to move to Brooklyn and discover how easy it is to get to the Meadowlands.

It’s important to recall that Bryant is a long way from being the cocky teenager that entered the league in 1996. He turns 29 in August and has logged more than 33,000 NBA minutes, which already ranks him 20th all time among NBA guards. Bryant has been increasingly sidelined by injuries. He probably feels the clock ticking on his career, which may be why he made his demand.

But basketball fans, Nets fans in particular, should recall that demanding a trade and being traded don’t always follow in sequence. Nets guard Jason Kidd demanded a trade a couple of years ago only to find Carter suddenly installed as his backcourt mate a few weeks later. It’s entirely likely that Bryant’s statements result in a long overdue housecleaning in the Lakers front office. By late afternoon yesterday, Bryant was already starting to soft pedal his demand. Still fans of certain teams would be remiss if they didn’t dream of the possibilities.

mjohnson@nysun.com