After career game, Toppin tests positive for COVID

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau wasn’t planning to elevate Obi Toppin into the starting lineup, and now he can’t.

After his career-high for points and rebounds in Friday night’s loss to the Raptors, the Knicks announced Saturday that Toppin entered COVID-19 health and safety protocols on Saturday.

Toppin will miss Sunday’s game against the Bucks, but players no longer have to sit out the mandatory 10 days, as they did last season. They may be reinstated following two negative tests 24 hours apart.

Thibodeau made two starting lineup changes this month and he is done for the moment. The Knicks are 1-5 since officially demoting starting point guard Kemba Walker for Alec Burks. Walker has not played a single minute in the six games. They are 1-1 since changing centers, elevating Nerlens Noel and putting Mitchell Robinson on the second unit.

The Knicks coach likely will let this marinate as the almost fully loaded Bucks invade the Garden for a Sunday matinee.

“We got to keep working,’’ Thibodeau said of the new alignment. “It’s how the team functions. We’ll see how it works. There’s a lot of interchangeable parts between our first and second unit. It’s not the starters and the bench. There’s different times they’re mixed and matched. It’s in totality. There’s things [Burks] can give us I really like. As a group, we have to play better.’’

Burks had his worst game as a starter Friday in a 90-87 loss at Toronto, where he scored a single point while missing all seven shot attempts.

Meanwhile, Toppin was a dunking machine in scoring a career-high 19 points with 10 rebounds, but shot 1-for-5 from 3-point range. Now he’s shelved.

Toppin’s situation may be less-is-more despite social media clamor he should play extended minutes. After a nondescript rookie season, Toppin is looking like a lottery pick — making this latest development disconcerting.