The Knicks have made it to Opening Night, prepared to essentially run it back from last season without completing the elusive splashy improvements they had hoped to make when the summer began.
The high-end trade market still hasn’t materialized to their liking, so the Knicks enter Wednesday’s season opener against the Celtics (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) at the Garden with only one significant alteration to their rotation — deleting former first-round pick Obi Toppin and adding another member to their vaunted Villanova crew in proven floor spacer Donte DiVincenzo.
Knicks fans have been waiting for years, through multiple front-office regimes, to land a true superstar, but team president Leon Rose again fell short in that pursuit over the past few months since his team was bounced in the second round of the playoffs by the Heat.
That wait will continue after multi[ple All-Star dominoes fell — namely Bradley Beal to the Suns and Damian Lillard to the Bucks, while Jrue Holiday was routed from Milwaukee to Portland and then to the Celtics.
The Knicks obviously will continue to keep an eye on what’s happening in Philadelphia, especially concerning reigning league MVP Joel Embiid as James Harden’s summertime trade request still awaits a resolution.
Tom Thibodeau and his team have preached the importance of continuity throughout training camp, but that approach could be scrapped quickly if Embiid signals a desire to relocate.
Still armed with a slew of first-round draft picks, Rose — Embiid’s former agent at CAA — clearly will continue to monitor the six-time All-Star’s availability, as well as those of past targets such as Donovan Mitchell and Karl-Anthony Towns.
“We’re not dealing with hypotheticals, we love the guys we have,” Thibodeau said Tuesday. “If there’s something that can make the team better, [Rose] will take a look at it.”
Another down-the-line dream scenario already was scuttled this week when two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo agreed to a three-year, $186 million contract extension to remain alongside Lillard in Milwaukee for the foreseeable future.
In the meantime, the Knicks will look to build on last year’s success — 47 regular-season wins and a first-round series win, their first since 2013, over the Cavaliers — with a similar cast led by a formidable top three of Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle and RJ Barrett.
Thibodeau also will attempt to infuse DiVincenzo into a second unit that features re-signed midseason pickup Josh Hart and Sixth Man of the Year runner-up Immanuel Quickley, who said all the right things Tuesday about his contract extension deadline passing the day before without a new deal.
“Contract, no contract, I’m here for the season and here for the team to be the best version I can, to try to dominate,” said Quickley, who will become a restricted free agent next summer. “Extension talks are over. I’m just focused on the season. Our team is going to have a great year and I feel like I’m going to have a great year.”
How great a year can the Knicks have, barring further impactful changes?
The revamped Bucks and Celtics clearly look like the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, with the Celtics also adding former Knicks big man Kristaps Porzingis in the offseason.
Even if Embiid doesn’t immediately force his way elsewhere, Harden’s ongoing absence and eventual departure could be enough for the Knicks to make up much or all of the seven games they finished behind the No. 3 76ers (54-28). The Knicks also finished four games behind Mitchell and the Cavaliers before dominating and bouncing them in five games in the opening round of the postseason.
Jimmy Butler and the Heat — coming off their historic run to the NBA Finals as a No. 8 seed — and a group including the Raptors, Hawks, Bulls, Pacers, Magic and Nets also should jockey for playoff positioning.
But the Knicks clearly are aspiring to move up — and not looking behind them — in the East. beginning Wednesday night.
Even if the longstanding desire to acquire a star has been punted down the road once again.
In the movie, this is how it sets up: down two, two on, two out, Bryce Harper at the plate, red towels waving, the National League pennant in the balance.
In the real-life, anti-A-list 2023 MLB playoffs, this is how it ends: with a routine fly ball to center field to end the seventh inning, followed by two nondescript frames, Game 7 ending when former Mets afterthought Paul Sewald popped up former Yankees farmhand Jake Cave.
So it’s the World Series we all predicted, the showcase MLB reaped when it sowed the playoff field with nearly half the league: Texas Rangers vs. Arizona Diamondbacks.
Corey Seager! Corbin Carroll! Jordan Montgomery! Merrill Kelly! This weekend on Fox!
All credit to the Diamondbacks, who punked the division-winning Brewers and Dodgers in the first two rounds, rallied from the death late in Game 4 of the NLCS then took two in the Philadelphia din when the chips were down, even if they needed motivation from “Mad Dog” Chris Russo. Carroll, all of 23 years old, was the best player on the field in Game 7.
And bye bye to the Phillies, who took “dingers only” a bit too literally at times, who ran out of reliable bullpen options, who can look forward to another NL East dogfight in the spring.
— Jonathan Lehman
Head coach Jacque Vaughn and a makeshift lineup — following the deadline trades of former franchise centerpieces Kevin Durant (Suns) and Kyrie Irving (Mavericks) — helped the Nets maintain a playoff berth as the No. 6 seed in the East, even if they were swept by the Sixers in the opening round.
Much of their success this season, however, hinges on the play of a former All-Star acquired for another Big 3 linchpin — Harden — at the 2022 deadline.
Ben Simmons has looked and felt great during the preseason after injuries largely have derailed his time in Brooklyn, and the three-time All-Star is as much of an X factor as any player in the East entering Wednesday’s opener (7:30 p.m. ET, YES) against the Cavs at Barclays Center.
“We want to be a playoff team,” Simmons told The Post’s Brian Lewis last week. “Playoffs is where we need to be at the end of the day.
“We’re not [rebuilding]. No one is here thinking, ‘Oh, we’re a rebuilding team’ or anything like that. We’re here to win. We’ve got the players to do it, we’ve got the coaching staff.
“I’m going to be better than I was [last season]. My job is just to show up, perform, work my ass off and lead this team the right way. So it’s doing all the little things, and everything else takes care of itself.”
In capping the NBA portion of today’s newsletter, the most anticipated league debut since LeBron James’ initial NBA game for the Cavs 20 years ago also will take place Wednesday night to immense fanfare.
No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs will play host to the Mavericks (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) after the 7-foot-4 center mesmerized crowds with his athleticism in four preseason games, averaging 19.3 points and 2.8 blocked shots in only 21.0 minutes per appearance.
“[Wembanyama] has had that hype for so long, kind of like LeBron did coming out. I compare him more to LeBron than to [former Spurs All-Star big men Tim Duncan and David Robinson] in that respect,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich told reporters recently. “And sure, I did worry about it. One of my major concerns was to figure out how to protect him or how I’m going to give him speeches about this and this and you got to look out for this and all that.
“But this didn’t just happen to him. For a pretty long time now, he’s been lauded. He’s learned to just let it go in one ear, out the other. Water on a duck’s back, all that sort of thing. He doesn’t get impressed with any of the plots or criticism, he just wants to play and be the best player he can be.”
???? The Post’s Mark Cannizzaro writes about the changes in Jets quarterback Zach Wilson and what his teammates have noticed.
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⚾ If Michael King is in the Yankees rotation, who’s the next Michael King?
???? Travis Dermott dared the NHL on rainbow Pride tape, and won. The Post’s Ethan Sears asked the Islanders about what’s next in this chapter.
???? St. John’s is in the middle of a big season for men’s basketball in the Big East, writes The Post’s Zach Braziller.
???? Join the Inside St. John’s text-message conversation to keep up with all the behind-the-scenes buzz around Rick Pitino’s Red Storm and to get your Johnnies questions answered by reporter Zach Braziller.
Rangers 3, Flames 1: Goals from Alexis Lafreniere, Chris Krieder and Erik Gustafsson gave the Rangers a rare win in Calgary.
Avalanche 7, Islanders 4: The defense has been a real issue in the Islanders’ 2-2-1 start.