Lance Thomas to start for Knicks on opening night

Lance Thomas’ work ethic and leadership have drawn raves from coaches for years. But those coaches never have felt so strongly that they were willing to make him the opening night starter.

Until now.

Maybe in a perfect world, he wouldn’t be an opening night starter for this season’s Knicks. If Kristaps Porzingis were healthy, he would be the starting power forward, and maybe if Courtney Lee were healthy, he’d push Kevin Knox over a spot and Thomas to the bench.

But with this roster and these conditions, coach David Fizdale had no qualms about starting him for a fourth straight preseason game Monday as the Knicks fell to the Wizards, 110-98, and no hesitation about declaring Thomas his opening night starter.

“Yeah, right now I think that’s going to be in the books,” Fizdale said. “The way he came out and attacked summer . . . He’s 30 years old and he was in the gym with our guys seven weeks before training camp, and that just says a lot about who he is. It carried right into camp. I think you can see the way he’s playing.

“He’s playing great basketball right out of the gate and very aggressive. His defense has been fantastic. Leadership-wise, he’s like my whistle. Every time I try to get the team’s attention, I don’t have to blow the whistle because he’s the one saying, ‘Yo, listen, here we go.’ Third quarters, he’s the one getting them out of the locker room saying, ‘Let’s go, let’s go.’ So he’s been fantastic and I think the guys really trust him, so I just like the way he’s gone about it.”

The Knicks are building for the future, so a 30-year-old journeyman might not seem likely to grab minutes. Knox, a 19-year-old rookie, has started all of the preseason games and scored nine points Monday. Frank Ntilikina, 20, started at point guard and had 10 points and two assists.

In his previous seven seasons, Thomas never has been an opening night starter, and in some years he wasn’t even assured of a roster spot. When he came to the Knicks in a three-team trade in 2015, he was waived and signed to a 10-day deal before earning his contract.

“One, it’s an honor being from here,” he said. “I wear that Knicks uniform with pride and I’m going to continue to fight while it’s across my chest every time I step on the floor with this jersey on. I plan on being exhausted after the game, and that’s something that I want everyone that’s on this team, especially the young guys, to understand. Play like you’re playing for your home team. What effort would you give if you were playing in front of your team that you grew up with? That’s the approach I go with every time I play, and I want to make sure all the guys have that.”

Thomas is a Brooklyn native who went to high school in New Jersey before heading to Duke University. He went undrafted in 2011 and since then it has been a battle to find a spot and a role. He found that role in New York, if mostly as a vocal leader rather than an in-game contributor.

“I’m not worried about that,” he said. “I’m going to continue to work. Anything can happen. But as long as I keep my head down and work and let guys follow suit, that is my job . . .

“I think it’s more magnified at that point, but I was always doing that even from the bench, screaming our coverages from the bench, calling what I see when guys come back from the huddle or come to the bench. I’m asking them questions, what did they see . . . what I saw, and if a guy is in a funk, I know how to get him out of it. That just comes from time and experience. I’m going to continue to take it to another level.”

Notes & quotes: Chris Bosh, who starred in Miami while Fizdale was an assistant there, has high hopes for the Knicks’ future. “In New York City, I say this lightly, but it’s kind of an easy period now for the city to embrace the team and the young guys and the core of what they’re trying to do,” Bosh said. “Then later on we’ll start getting into a superstar or two superstars coming here and then the narrative will change a little bit. It’ll be on them to live up to the expectations. But right now I think you want to build the young core and have them compete every night.’’ . . . Enes Kanter was held out for what Fizdale said was a rest day. Mitchell Robinson (ankle) and Lee (neck) were sidelined again . . . Knox shot 2-for-9 from the floor. He hit a three-pointer in the final minute, ending a stretch of 11 straight misses from beyond the arc.