Miami ? This time, Pat Riley laughed before issuing a denial, which made the process far more lighthearted than last week’s denunciation of rumored interest in free-agent guard Latrell Sprewell.

No, the Heat president said, Terrell Owens was not coming here, despite ESPN.com’s Mark Stein offering over the weekend, “It’s just a rumor at this stage, but I hear the Heat are interested.”

That’s not to say the suspended Philadelphia Eagles receiver hasn’t been here already.

Owens, in fact, worked out and played pickup games with Heat staffers last spring on the practice court at AmericanAirlines Arena as a guest of guard Damon Jones.

Among those on the court was Heat assistant coach Erik Spoelstra, who said, smiling, Tuesday, “I will not get into whether he can play with the pros or not.”

Owens long has toyed with the idea of a side career. Last summer, Owens was denied permission from the Eagles to play for the Sacramento Kings’ summer-league team in Las Vegas.

At 6-foot-3, Owens was a backup shooting guard at Tennessee-Chattanooga and played briefly for the minor-league USBL Adirondack Wildcats in the 2002 offseason while a member of the San Francisco 49ers.

The Heat has a history with NFL-to-NBA aspirants. During the 2002 offseason, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez participated in the team’s summer league as an undersized power forward.

Spoelstra would not compare Owens to Gonzalez, “because Tony actually went through a camp with us.”