Porzingis will return, but durability issues linger

Kristaps Porzingis’ sore ankle and elbow that forced him to miss the second night of a back-to-back Wednesday at Orlando has healed. The 7-foot-3 unicorn was back at full-contact practice Friday and ready to dominate the Kings on Saturday at the Garden.

Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said Wednesday the back-toback set was no factor in the decision to rest his burgeoning MVP candidate. (Rest no longer is an acceptable excuse to sit out games.)

Porzingis, who did not make himself available to reporters after practice Friday, said on WFAN radio the “swelling” was down in his elbow “so I’ll be ready to go.”

Durability is the last issue Porzingis has to overcome before turning into the game’s next superstar. He missed 26 games his first two years and said Wednesday he may need a surgical procedure to get rid of the bursitis in his elbow, which has plagued him for years. At practice Thursday, Porzingis wore a black padded sleeve on his right elbow.

The past two years, he also has run out of gas once the season hit February. For that rea- son, Porzingis brought over his European physical therapist, as The Post reported, to live with him and travel with the team on the road — all at Porzingis’ expense.

“The main thing for me is to keep my weight up across the season, not lose my weight,” Porzingis said Friday on the radio. “You play so many games. Mentally, I’ll be fine.”

Porzingis’ scoring average is 30 points per game, second in the league. His shooting percentage is 51.2 percent, the chief reason the Knicks are an impressive 6-5. Porzingis, 22, is well on his way to his first AllStar berth and is the lead candidate for Most Improved Player. Those were two of his individual goals entering the season.

“I’m never really surprised about my own performance because I know how much work I put in,” Porzingis said. “It’s good that it’s showing on the court what I worked on.”

Saturday will mark the NBA Garden debut of rookie point guard D’Aaron Fox, formerly of Kentucky. The Knicks were interested, but he didn’t work out for them because they selected eighth in the draft — out of his range. Scott Perry, then Sacramento’s executive VP of basketball operations, drafted Fox fifth before moving on to the Knicks. George Hill was signed by the Kings as Fox’s mentor — something Phil Jackson planned to do for Frank Ntilikina.

“He’s a great player,” Hornacek said of Fox. “Trying to figure it out his first time around the league. He’s athletic, quick, can get to the basket, plays with great confidence.

“We’re going to have to deal with him when he’s out there. Whenever you play against young guys trying to prove themselves, you know they’re going to play hard. Our guys need to be ready for him.”