HARD’ SELL FOR HAWKS

Ex-Knick mulls retirement

Matching the Knicks’ offer for Tim Hardaway Jr. — who faced his former team Friday night and scored 22 points in the Knicks’ 116-104 loss — didn’t jibe with the direction of the Hawks, according to coach Mike Budenholzer.

“You always come to tough spots as an organization. He’s a good player, lot of respect for him,” said Budenholzer, who doubled as president of the Hawks until May. “It’s just that where we are and what we want to do, it was best for us as it played out.”

The Knicks went above market value to ink Hardaway Jr. on a four-year, $71 million deal, which was mocked at the time but has appeared increasingly smart. Atlanta had the right to match after originally acquiring Hardaway Jr. in a draft day trade with the Knicks in 2015.

But the Hawks — who are one of the worst teams in the NBA — didn’t want to tie up their money as they embark on their rebuild.

Hardaway Jr. endured a personal roller coaster in his two seasons with Atlanta, having been, at one point, demoted to the D-League before working his way back into the rotation.

Much of Hardaway Jr.’s improvement stemmed from his defense, which is a focus throughout the Hawks organization. Still, Hardaway pushed back at the idea that Atlanta was responsible for revitalizing his career.

“It doesn’t really matter,” he said. “It was the mindset of myself. All they could do was provide it for me, I had to go out there and actually do it. It could have been any situation or any team, but it had to be my mindset and it just so happened to be Atlanta.”