The Knicks came home from their six-game trip against the Western Conference without Joakim Noah and with a vexing point-guard deployment issue.
How much should Trey Burke play?
The answer: A lot.
The recently signed point-guard whiz, Burke closed out the western swing with two straight 18-point games, Thursday in Denver and a victory Friday in Phoenix.
The skill level he displayed in Denver in posting a double-double (18 points, 11 assists, zero turnovers) was tantalizing. Then Burke delivered the knockout blow with 16 fourth-quarter points in Phoenix.
Burke’s emergence in the Valley of the Sun doesn’t mean the sun is setting on rookie point guard Frank Ntilikina, who played just nine minutes against Phoenix.
Quite the contrary: The Knicks have another lottery-pick point guard to cultivate who could make the team’s future a lot brighter.
Burke is 25 years old, locked up next season with a non-guaranteed second year and may be a diamond in the rough with mitigating circumstances and maturity causing his lack of success in Utah.
Has Ntilikina hit a rookie wall? Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek has all but admitted it. But that doesn’t mean getting Burke a big look reflects poorly on the 6-foot-5 rookie with the 7-foot wingspan and strong defensive instincts. Burke played 28 minutes in Denver, 18 in Phoenix.
Hornacek said on the trip he thought a G-League stint for Ntilikina was unnecessary. But a couple of games could get Ntilikina out of a current rut and restore some luster he’s lost in January. He needs to work on a still unpolished offensive game.
That’s why the Westchester Knicks exist: to easily slide a project 19-year-old point guard in for a few games for development.
Remember, the G-League was once called the Developmental League before a Gatorade sponsorship won out.
“The G-League shouldn’t have a stigma,’’ one NBA scout told The Post. “Frank doesn’t look like the same player I saw earlier in the season with his confidence.”
Indeed, Ntilikina doesn’t look the same player since his solid game against Dennis Smith Jr. in Dallas earlier this month. But assistant coaches knows he’s legit, and they voted him into the Rising Stars Challenge based on his defensive acumen.
If Ntilikina is going to play nine minutes for the Knicks, it isn’t the worst idea to send him to Westchester and grant more leeway as a shotmaker without worries. Ntilikina, averaging 5.3 points on 35.3 percent shooting, doesn’t even have to miss an NBA game.
The Knicks, who technically went 3-4 on the road trip if you count the “road game’’ in Brooklyn, still are in a playoff race despite their 22-28 record. They lost ground but are just 4 ½ games out, in 10th place.
Soon the Knicks may be finished, and after All-Star weekend, Ntilikina and Burke should share all the minutes. Veteran starter Jarrett Jack can move aside in the name of the future.
“Three is a lot to try to play when you got Timmy [Hardaway Jr.], Courtney [Lee] — those guys are definitely the [shooting] guards,’’ the scout said. “Trying to play three point guards, at some point it’s definitely going to be crowded. You got to settle in if you make a run with one starter and one backup. I don’t know how you manage that. You got the eighth pick you got to develop and a veteran [Jack] who’s a coach off the court for everyone. Jack is playing solid. And you got Trey who can help the team. At some point, someone has to get squeezed out.”
The moment Burke stepped on the court in Brooklyn 12 days ago, when these string of seven straight road games began, he gave the Knicks something different, a flair — an experienced pick-and-roller with a deft mid-range and 3-point shot.
According to a source, general manager Scott Perry, when he was with Orlando, would have taken either Burke or C.J. McCollum at No. 2 in 2013 if Cleveland had taken Victor Oladipo. Cleveland selected bust Anthony Bennett, Oladipo fell to Orlando and Burke to Utah at 9.
Perry wasn’t with the organization when Ntilikina was selected by Phil Jackson. Perry has his guy in Burke now. Two point-guard lottery picks — one an offensive specialist, one defensive — are better than one.