Trey Burke isn’t the only one who has changed since his days with the Jazz. So has his father, Benji Burke, a Division II scholarship player at Northwest Missouri State who coached his son throughout AAU and moonlighted briefly as his agent.
During Burke’s Jazz stint, Benji was active on Twitter — too active, he admits. Benji tweeted about his son’s playing time, leading to social-media spats with Jazz fans. One Jazz official told The Post half-jokingly, “Benji was LaVar Ball before LaVar Ball.”
Trey is with the Knicks now, his stock rising in the eyes of the organization after a blistering start. And Benji’s tweets now are private. He says he has all but quit Twitter and doesn’t appreciate the Ball comparisons.
“I tweeted a few things because I’m a fan,’’ Benji told The Post in a phone interview from his home in Columbus, Ohio, where he’s part-owner of JetFuel Technology. “I think they got upset [because] sometimes I’d say stuff. I wasn’t lying. I’m just saying: ‘Are we trying to win or not?’ They got mad, so I stopped. In social media, you can’t win either way. I got Jazz fans started getting on me the team is losing and it’s Trey’s fault.”
Ball’s recent comments about the Lakers turning on coach Luke Walton represent another level of father involvement, Benji said. Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek is safe.
“I would never do that,” Benji said. “You can’t disrespect a coach or another player. I think [LaVar Ball is] trying to be over the top because he has his own [apparel] deal going on. He’s talking the team don’t respect the coach. You don’t say that publicly. Just because LaVar is unhappy doesn’t mean your son is. It was nowhere near that.”
In fact, Benji admits things going wrong in Utah was partly Trey’s fault, after he was the ninth pick in 2013 — “too young” to deal with a series of adversities. The Jazz drafted another point guard, Dante Exum, before Burke’s second season and hired a new coach in Quin Snyder, who didn’t take a liking to Burke’s style.
“He was just young out there,” Benji said. “It took a couple of years to mature. They made a coaching change, they wanted more a defensive guard as opposed to Trey being more offensive. They went away from him.”
According to Benji, Trey signing with the Wizards last season was a “bad decision.” There weren’t enough minutes, with John Wall and Bradley Beal as a star-filled backcourt. Then the Wizards signed ex-Knick Brandon Jennings last February.
“He took the first thing that was available,” Benji said. “They signed Brandon Jennings. I know what that was about. It didn’t help the team. I think Trey is a way better player than Brandon. Somebody [Jennings] knew [was] a decision-maker.”
The Wizards fiasco made Burke fussy this offseason. He turned down offers to go to training camp from Oklahoma City, Portland and New Orleans — not seeing a defined role.
When former Michigan teammate Tim Hardaway Jr. and GM Scott Perry, a one-time Michigan assistant, joined the Knicks, Burke put them on his radar.
“He thought God gave him a sign,” Benji said.
His father warned him the opportunity in New York seemed slim. Ultimately he agreed to join the Knicks in the final week of training camp — one day after he got married. Perry told Burke his path to the Garden would run through the G-League.
“It was to start over,’’ Benji said. “It was a risk. If you know Trey, he really has a lot of confidence in what he can do. The risk has paid off now. Earlier I thought: How could he be turning down jobs? He told me not to worry. Everything would work out, just trust him, and it did.
“Trey always liked Scott and believes in the ability he has. It was just a good fit when Scott got the job.”
Burke tore up Westchester and was signed two weeks ago. In six games, he’s averaging 9.3 points in 13.2 minutes, 3.2 assists and is shooting 61.5 percent, including 42.9 percent from 3-point range.
He is still 25 with a potential future with the Knicks, despite the presence of rookie Frank Ntilikina. Hornacek succeeded in Phoenix with multiple point guards.
“[Hornacek] likes guys who can shoot the ball and score it,’’ Benji said. “He also wants you to be able to defend. Through Trey’s maturity over the last two years, Trey can guard the ball. Even at his size [6-foot-1], he can stay in front of people.”
The need for a scoring point guard was clear as Jarrett Jack and Ntilikina are anything but.
“Coach Hornacek was a guard and, with this team’s personnel, it’s more often than that they’re going to need Trey to score the ball,’’ Benji said. “[Kristaps] Porzingis, Timmy, [Michael] Beasley are top scorers, but who else on a given night can give you 20 and then create for others? Trey’s ability to create off the dribble for Porzingis and Timmy is going to help this team.”
Burke’s already helping, and Benji isn’t tweeting.