ORLANDO, Fla. — Joakim Noah will meet Friday afternoon with his hometown team here at the site of the NBA summer league, and barring unforeseen circumstances, he is expected to fulfill his childhood dream of playing for the Knicks.
Dialogue on contract numbers began officially between the parties at 12:01 a.m. Friday with an NBA source saying it could average $17.5 million per year. The Vertical reported it could be as long as a four-year deal, which would be worth $70 million, but a final year could be mostly non-guaranteed.
“We’re not there yet,’’ one NBA source told The Post early Friday morning.
Amid reports about the Knicks’ interest in Kevin Durant, the 31-year-old Noah actually has been Phil Jackson��s No. 1 free-agent priority since the Derrick Rose trade so the Knicks can place the rugged 6-foot-11 Bulls center alongside 7-3 Kristaps Porzingis.
According to sources, the Wizards, once a heavy contender for Noah, have already conceded to Jackson’s Knicks.
Pending various cap holds for their own free agents, the Knicks have should have about $17 million in cap space to sign a starting shooting guard such as Eric Gordon or Courtney Lee and a backup point guard (possibly Austin Rivers) to Derrick Rose. Rose has led the recruitment of both Noah and Gordon.
The Post first reported Noah’s interest in meeting with Jackson, who is expected to be flanked by general manager Steve Mills and coach Jeff Hornacek. Carmelo Anthony is believed to have also talked to Noah, who ironically tried to recruit him to the Bulls during his 2014 free agency.
Meanwhile, Durant is off to the Hamptons to meet with five teams after a reported five-hour session in Oklahoma with the Thunder amid a report he’s “90 percent” sure he will re-sign with OKC. The Knicks aren’t one of the teams, have realized their long-shot fate for a while, though Noah reportedly had talked to Durant about reconsidering. (The Knicks wouldn’t have cap space to get a max deal done anyway).
Hornacek, at no point mentioning Noah by name, said, in general, he wants to specify in recruiting meetings with free-agent centers that the Knicks are going for it now. He also wants to stress during the meeting he wants a center who is more than a defensive specialist. Noah, who played at Florida, is known for his rebounding and scrap but scouts believe he’s got a nice post game, too.
Under NBA rules, Hornacek was not permitted to talk about any free agents before Friday.
Noah played just 29 games last season because of a pair of shoulder separations, “We have money, we have attractive pieces, the three guys, so I feel pretty confident we’re going to get a good player,” Hornacek said Thursday after summer-league practice. “With the addition of Derrick Rose, we have Melo and Kristaps, it’s an attractive place to come. We got a great crop to work around to help us back into the playoffs.”
Hornacek said he wants to emphasize in meetings with prospective centers the triangle offense is sweet for a pivot, and Robin Lopez proved that last season when he emerged as a major low-post option.
“The biggest thing for the guys is look at some of the main components we have,’’ Hornacek said. “If they know they can go to a team that can win, that helps. We obviously want to solidify the defense from that spot. Robin was a guy who was very good at protecting the basket. We want that. We want a guy who can do it all. You can’t be one-dimensional in this league.
“He’s got to have a little bit of ability whether he can finish underneath, move around, make some mid-range shots. We want that ability,’’ Hornacek added. “Not just be a guy who’s going to set picks all the time, but going to be involved a little bit more than a lot of teams in the league. … A lot of those [triangle] aspects, you’re going to have touches and make plays out of it. Maybe in early offense, in the open court, now you can set some picks and roll.”
The Knicks finished third-worst in the Eastern Conference last season at 32-50, a 15-game improvement from the 17-65 disaster of 2014-15.
But Hornacek believes the Rose trade has ended the perception they’re rebuilding around the young Porzingis and looking to be a beast in the East.
“You always want to win,” Hornacek said. “New York, Los Angeles, they’re not markets [where you think], ‘OK, you’re going through a rebuilding process.’ … They’re always on the win-now thought process.'”