FIT FOR A KING

Stint with Knicks would add to legacy of LeBron

THERE are a thousand reasons why this will never happen, of course. We could list them all here but: a) it’s depressing, and b) the list would probably run over into Mushnick’s page and he charges exorbitant rent.

So we can focus on the one reason why it should happen.

The one reason why LeBron James should consider coming to play for the Knicks.

And that is this: He’s already won titles the mercenary way, in Miami, and if it was hard to do, you had to ultimately admire what the Heat did during his four years there, how at their peak they were every bit as fun a basketball show as the Warriors are now. He’s already won a title by fulfilling a civic duty — winning one for Cleveland, ending a 50-year championship drought for his hometown, as feel-good a story as the NBA has seen in a good long while. So what is left? Winning one in New York. As a Knick.

OK, a disclaimer: This is an absolutely and unabashedly parochial perspective. One hundred percent. It isn’t like the rest of the NBA wrings its hands at the Knicks’ 45-year title drought the way Knicks fans do. And it is not like the rest of the country at large ever feels compelled to feel sorry for New York. If anything, they relish it when we have the kind of sporting Sahara we’ve had since 2011. So I do not expect a groundswell of support to give this movement adrenaline.

But I am appealing to the part of LeBron’s competitive soul that has to know what it would mean — both to his own legacy and to a city that still so loves the game and still, despite it all, so loves the Knicks. Really, there is only one place that can scratch his final basketball itch.

It makes all the sense in the world for him to choose the Lakers instead. He owns a house out there. He has a life there. The Lakers have eight times as many banners hanging at the Staples Center as the Knicks do at Madison Square Garden. That is a hard thing to ignore.

But that’s exactly what should make him think twice.

Will bringing the Lakers back to glory after their 17 minutes of struggle really be satisfying in the long run? There is nothing LeBron can do that can ever make the Lakers his team. The Lakers are West and Wilt, Magic and Kareem, Kobe and Shaq, and that is a remarkable lineage, no doubt.

But LeBron winning one as a Knick?

Put it this way: Most of the free world thinks of Mark Messier as a mainstay of the Edmonton Oilers dynasty, and he certainly was. In his obituary, that will be the first sentence of the first paragraph most places in North America. But around here, what Messier delivered to the Rangers is eternal, it’s forever.

Now multiply Messier by 10.

And that’s what LeBron as a Knick would be like if he wins a title.

One more disclaimer, and an important one: There’s no guarantee the Knicks will win it all even if LeBron does shock the world and embrace a New York state of mind. It certainly wouldn’t happen next year. And might not happen at all. It probably won’t, truthfully. And if it doesn’t? Maybe some will use it as evidence against him in the tiresome Jordan vs. James argument. But if it does? If it does? Dinner’s on us, King. Forever. You can have the table next to Messier.