$72M man ain’t going Noah-where

LOS ANGELES — Joakim Noah and the Knicks will remain legally separated but with the divorce on indefinite hold. As Thursday night’s deadline came and went, there were no indications that Noah would give up the type of money necessary to work out a buyout, according to multiple sources. The exiled center was not waived by the 11:59 p.m. deadline to be eligible for a playoff roster on another team, and he will instead continue an uncomfortable partnership with the Knicks.

The next step will be waiting until the offseason to trade Noah (unlikely given his albatross contract) or until September when waiving him will have less of an impact on the cap. Using the stretch provision, the Knicks can finagle it so that Noah’s cap hit will decrease every year while extending over a longer period of time. It’s not ideal but there appears to be no good solution to this mess. An alternative for the Knicks is to keep this standoff going for as long as possible while hoping the Player’s Union doesn’t file a grievance.

After this season, Noah will still be owed $38 million over two years.

He and Jeff Hornacek were already on rocky terrain before their dust-up during a practice in February, which led to both sides agreeing to stay away from each other.

Another buyout candidate — Jarrett Jack — also will remain with the team after Thursday, according to sources.

Jack, 34, has been cut out of the rotation for the sake of the youth movement and has garnered interest from playoff teams, but is also valued in New York as a mentor to its young point guards. Jack also wants to be a coach after retirement and Hornacek indicated that the remaining 20 games could help with that career path.

“Sure (Jack) wants to play. But I think he kind of understands where we’re at with these young guys and he’s doing his best even in practices, in games of helping these guys out. Kind of another coach out there,” Hornacek said. “That’ll bode well for him when he’s done playing in three or four years or whatever it is. He has great knowledge of the game and he’ll be a great coach one day.”