After drawing 12 technical fouls last season to rank in the top 20 among all NBA players, Julius Randle says he made a friendly bet with someone in the Knicks organization that he would cut that number down to three this year.

“So I already messed that up,” Randle joked after practice Tuesday in Tarrytown.

After arguing that he was fouled on a drive to the basket, Randle was teed up for the third and fourth times this season to earn an ejection in the third quarter of Sunday’s win over the Kings. That doubled the number of techs that he’d previously been assessed over the Knicks’ first 26 games.

“I was good until the last game, man. What the hell happened, right? I had a relapse,” Randle said, adding that he’s “absolutely” made a conscious effort to not argue with the refs as much this season. “I don’t want any beef or confrontation with officials. I could never do their job.

“Dealing with us as players, it’s like I’ve said I could never coach. It’s a lot to deal with. I understand they can’t get every play right. You know me. I’m a passionate player. I play with a lot of emotion, a lot of drive. So sometimes it gets the best of me. But that was a conscious thing going into the summer to try to limit that.”

Tom Thibodeau had said after Sunday’s game that the coaching staff and Randle’s teammates needed to whisk him away from the argument once he’d been slapped with the first technical foul. The Knicks coach added after Tuesday’s practice there needs to be “an awareness by everybody” to avoid such encounters.

Randle, who scored all 27 of his points in the first half of the Knicks’ fourth straight win ahead of games Wednesday and Friday in Chicago, admitted he should have “tried not to get the first one.”

“I just can’t put my team in that situation,” Randle said. “I don’t want to talk about what happened, and whether it was right or wrong.

“Regardless, I can’t put my teammates in that situation and that was selfish of me. I got to be better.”

Randle’s scoring has improved over the Knicks’ past seven games, averaging 27.1 points per appearance beginning with a season-high 36 in Detroit on Nov. 29, his 28th birthday. Sunday’s game likely would have been his fourth output of at least 30 points in that stretch if he hadn’t been tossed.

“Hopefully, that last one gets rescinded. But we’ll see. I’m really trying my best,” Randle said. “Sometimes my emotions get the best of me. But that’s just kind of what comes with it.

“I’m just trying to be more invested and in tune with what’s going on with our team. How can I help my guys? How can I make the best plays for my team? Next play mentality. So the more I focus on that, the more all the outside distractions [don’t] become a thing.”

The 6-foot-8 power forward added that physically “this is probably in a couple years the best I’ve felt, probably since my last year with Lakers” in 2017-18.

The Knicks’ defensive numbers also have improved during their winning streak, which has been aided by increased roles for second-year guards Quentin Grimes and Miles McBride.

“I just feel like we’re in a better flow, rhythm. The game is a lot easier when you’re not taking the ball out of the basket. Getting stops and executing the offense, it’s a good way to play,” Randle said. “[I’m] just in the moment, game by game, try to help the team. Do what’s best for the team. Help lead us to wins. Whatever is asked of me, whatever the play is in the moment on any side of the floor, just trying to make plays and help out as much as I can.”