Of course Tom Thibodeau is expected to come back next season. Why wouldn’t he be?

Thibs is the only excellent move Leon Rose has made as Knicks president in his two full years. It’s the only time Rose’s connections netted him a star.

Owner James Dolan’s reputation, if you haven’t heard, isn’t sparkling around the NBA. But Thibodeau took the Knicks’ plunge because of his trust in Rose as his longtime agent.

Thibodeau took home Coach of The Year honors last season because of a 41-31 record and guiding a modest roster to a playoff berth for the first time in eight years. He also got Julius Randle to play like an All-Star for the first time in his career.

Those accomplishments should buy him a year of forgiveness for this rotten season. At 28-40 and trailing 10th place in the East by 5½ games, the Knicks aren’t even in the hunt for a spot in the play-in round of the playoffs.

But during the All-Star Break, there was speculation that the coach might not be back next season, with one report stating that William Wesley was bad-mouthing Thibodeau to Dolan.

According to Bleacher Report, Thibodeau’s job is safe. However, the report also confirmed Wesley – and chief strategist Brock Aller – aren’t fans, but that Dolan was leaving the decision on what to do on the coaching front up to Rose.

It’s not news that Wesley isn’t a Thibodeau fan. As The Post reported, Wesley hired three assistants that Thibodeau had never met in Mike Woodson, Kenny Payne and Johnnie Bryant to give the staff more diversity and a different approach than that of Thibodeau’s hard-line stances.

Just six months later, Woodson bolted for Indiana University. League officials also believe Payne will take over for his alma mater, Louisville.

Although the rumor is that if Wesley told Rose to jump into the Hudson River in January, he’d consider it, clearly the former agent isn’t about to get rid of his prized asset in Thibodeau like Minnesota once did.

Thibodeau snapped a 14-year playoff drought by the Timberwolves in 2018 but was canned in January of the following season because his relationship with management had soured and his trade for Jimmy Butler created a rift among the players.

The Knicks do have issues – their camaraderie is nothing close to last season – but there are no rifts.

They also have not quit on Thibodeau as evidenced by a three-game winning streak during their recent six-game road trip in which they routed the Clippers, Kings and mighty Mavericks by a combined 69 points.

The Knicks also had the Grizzlies down 15 late in third quarter in Memphis before Ja Morant took over, finishing with 37 points to lead the Grizzlies to a 118-114 victory.

That’s not quitting on a coach. That’s just a team not talented enough to pull out games in the fourth quarter, as they proved again on Sunday in Brooklyn against the Nets. The Knicks just don’t have enough big-time closers, Randle and RJ Barrett included.

With the losses to Memphis and Brooklyn, and Portland coming to town on Wednesday, the Knicks play-in chances are on life support with just 13 games left in the regular season.

This downfall is less on the coach and more on management, which used its league-high cap space to bring in Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier, a backcourt that never panned out. Derrick Rose breaking down again didn’t help, either. He has missed the last 39 games after undergoing ankle surgery in December.

Thibodeau has not lost this team and has done well coaching up Barrett into the All-Star conversation for 2023.

Leon Rose, meanwhile, has his work cut out for him this offseason with the need to find a legitimate point guard. He also must woo back center Mitchell Robinson.

Turning the Knicks around doesn’t start with firing their coach, nor should doing so even be a topic of conversation.