Meaningless win may cost team valuable draft position

The Knicks’ 70th anniversary season ended Wednesday night with a 114-113 Garden win over the 76ers, locking up a 31-51 record and possibly costing them the sixth seed in the NBA draft lottery.

With the costly last-second victory on Maurice Ndour’s game-winner and a Minnesota loss in Houston, the Knicks and Timberwolves finished tied for the league’s sixth-worst record.

Of those 70 seasons, mark this one down as one of the very worst. So bad, Carmelo Anthony may finally waive his no-trade clause and skip town.

The Knicks’ next important date is the NBA draft lottery May 16. A drawing will be held Tuesday to determine what order the Knicks and T’wolves pick, in the event neither wins a topthree pick in the lottery. The total number of pingpong balls (63 for sixth, 43 for seventh) is combined and divided evenly, giving both teams 53 chances to win a top-three pick — and a 5.3 percent chance at the top pick.

Another drawback in losing the drawing and falling to the seventh seed is, in the worst-case scenario, the Knicks could fall back to 10th if they drop the maximum three spots.

When the Knicks ended last season at 32-50, the organization puffed out its chest and highlighted a 15-game improvement — best in the NBA. Wednesday the Knicks were noticeably more humble.

The Knicks are so despondent over their 70th year that normal player media availability on trash-bag day has been cancelled, and it is unclear whether team president Phil Jackson will break his silence.

Jackson managed to go through the entire preseason and regular season without once talking to the New York media or the club’s website — a fact that surely disappointed owner James Dolan, who hired him for $60 million to be the face of the franchise.

The Knicks finally announced an MRI on Noah’s torn right shoulder has led the medical staff to “recommend’’ surgery. However, the suspended Noah has yet to decide. Hornacek said the injury took place in January when he may have had a partial tear of the rotator cuff. Now it’s more severe.

“He hurt it a while ago — at that point it wasn’t serious enough to have surgery and we’d see how it goes the rest of the season,’’ Hornacek said. “It was bothering him more, so he got an MRI. If he’s going to have it, we hope he has it right away so he can be ready.’’