By MARC BERMAN and BRIAN LEWIS

There was a perception last week Isiah Thomas was looking to up Quentin Richardson’s trade value when he went out of his way to praise the guy after not singling out a player all camp. The question posed to Thomas was about Jared Jeffries, before Jeffries got hurt.

There seemed definitely an agenda in his statement.

But with Jeffries out for possibly two months, trading Richardson, his best perimeter defender now, is not happening. And Thomas said his words were misconstrued by The Post.

“He had a really good camp,’’ Thomas said. “I wasn’t saying that to try and trade him. When a guy’s playing well, that’s when you want to keep him. I thought the camp he had was good, having him that you can plug in a lot of different places. He’s the Quentin Richardson we thought we were getting when we made the trade.’’

And perhaps he will start at small forward on opening night in Memphis Nov. 1. Plagued by a chronic disk problem and the shooting death of his brother in Chicago, Richardson was miserable last season.

You could tell the confidence is back. Besides making all the hustle plays, getting to loose balls, getting offensive rebounds (he had 8 boards total vs. Boston Tuesday), he seems much surer of his shot. There’s no hesitation when he gets the ball and has space. He launches it confidently, not laboriously.

“I’m cool,’’ Richardson said of his health at today’s practice. “I know my body and when I feel good. I know I’m capable of doing the things I’m good at.’’

Richardson perhaps was unable to adjust to the losing culture in New York after coming from the high-flying Suns in the Draft-Night trade in 2005. “Coming off a team that’d won 62 games, when he and Jerome (James) both those guys were coming from teams that had pretty good success. When they got here, our situation just wasn’t there. I think his overall attitude is better. They said it really does take a year to adjust to New York. Very few guys jump right in.’’