Hooped Up

Isiah Thomas has made a deadline deal every February of his tenure with the Knicks, but with expiring contracts not in hand, it will be more difficult.

Thomas insisted that he doesn’t regret buying out Jalen Rose and Maurice Taylor, because “we’re pretty healthy as a franchise.

“When I first got here, the first two years … using the expiring contracts and trying to get talent and draft picks and everything else was the only way that we could build up the team,” Thomas said. “I think right now, we’re in a place where we’re younger now and we’re good enough where we don’t necessarily need to go spend a lot more money.”

Newsday