Lenny Cooke hopes to settle an old score with LeBron James when he joins the Celtics' entry in the NBA's Boston summer league next month.

Cooke, the itinerant New York prep basketball star who faded away after he went unchosen in last year's draft, agreed yesterday to join the Boston squad for a tryout, said his agent, Kenny Glassman. The Boston team faces James' Cavs' squad on July 14, LeBron's first nationally televised game as an NBA player.

"Boston is intrigued with what he's done in the USBL," Glassman says of Cooke. "Now he has to prove he belongs in the NBA."

Cooke's USBL team, the Brooklyn Kings, was eliminated by Pennsylvania in the first round of the playoffs this week in Dodge City, Kan., but Cooke was named rookie of the year yesterday. He led the league with 29.8 points per game.