Knicks guard Josh Hart dunks ahead of Sacramento Kings forward...

Knicks guard Josh Hart dunks ahead of Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis in the second half on Jan. 25. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke

The Knicks can’t be greedy, not when the All-Star balloting allowed them to be the only team in the NBA with two starters in next month’s game in San Francisco. Still, when asked which player on his team deserves consideration for one of the reserve spots voted by the coaches, which will be announced Thursday night, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau had a simple reply.

“All of them,” he said with a smile.

And it might be a fair point. It’s hard to differentiate between the do-it-all play of Josh Hart, the rapidly improving two-way play of Mikal Bridges or the stopper defense of OG Anunoby. But the reality is that none of them are likely to earn a spot.

Hart has become the sort of wild card in the mix and there are two wild-card spots in the coaches’ voting along with three frontcourt spots and two backcourt positions. There may be no player who better suits that description than Hart. At 6-4, he has averaged 12.5 rebounds per game since the new year began. It is the most rebounds by any player under 6-11.

For the season, he entered Wednesday’s game averaging 13.9 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists with six triple-doubles, 22 double-doubles and the ability to play any position on either end of the floor. And maybe most of all, his teammates Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns — who are starting in the game — would like to see him earn a spot to ruin his vacation plans for the All-Star break.

“I told y’all I want to ruin his whole break,” Towns said. “I want him to be right there with us playing basketball. He said he wants to put his toes in the sand? I want him to be an All-Star.”

But beyond that, and maybe beyond the numbers, there is a case to be made for Hart.

“He’s one of the most crucial parts of one of the teams that have the best record in the East,” Towns said. The Knicks entered Wednesday just one game behind Boston for second place in the East.

“I think Josh Hart is the heart and soul of this team. I know everyone wants to pick other people, but I think when you’re in this locker room, you know what he brings to our team. And there’s so many things that Josh Hart does.

“I’m super happy the stat sheet is showing the work he puts in, but there’s so much more that he does that doesn’t come up on a stat sheet that’s so important for us. Regardless of how everything plays out, if he’s with me and JB on that Sunday, one thing he can know during that break is he deserves to be there and we all in this locker room feel like he does. If coaches give him the nod or not, he’s an All-Star in our minds.”

Even as injuries have opened up the field, the competition is tough. Atlanta’s Jalen Johnson is the latest to be declared out for the season on Wednesday.

Hart was listed on the ballot in the backcourt where Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard and Cleveland’s Darius Garland figure to grab spots with Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball, Miami’s Tyler Herro, Atlanta’s Trae Young and Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey also worthy of consideration.

Evan Mobley of Cleveland and teammate Jarrett Allen are likely frontcourt additions along with Boston’s Jaylen Brown. A wild card there is still Miami’s Bam Adebayo.

Thibodeau said he wouldn’t lobby for his players even if he feels they’ve earned it, aware of how hard the decision is. “Some people do it, some people don’t,” he said. “I think, I know how I feel about it. It’s really an impossible task. You try to be as fair as possible, you weigh it out and usually there’s two, three guys at the end that you could make a case either way.

“And then you tend to go with the winning aspect of it. You have to decide on something that separates. And it’s unfortunate. And then you’re hopeful that in some ways they can get named later. But there’s always going to be a couple guys that get left off that are going to be deserving.”

Robinson taking it slow

Mitchell Robinson still has yet to practice as we approach the end of January, a point in the schedule the team had originally penciled in as a return time for him from ankle surgery. Thibodeau said, “He’s running, jumping . . . doing all that stuff. He hasn’t had contact yet and that’s really probably the next step for him is the contact aspect of it. There’s some contact but it’s very controlled.”

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