The Knicks now need Julius Randle to be their most improved player from their opening loss to Game 2 against the Hawks.

The first-time All-Star power forward was named the league’s Most Improved Player on Tuesday night, capping a breakthrough regular season in fronting the Knicks to their first postseason appearance since 2013.

“I think I improved obviously as a player, but Thibs always says it’s the impact on winning,” Randle said on a Zoom call, referring to coach Tom Thibodeau. “I think to be where people thought we were going to be at the beginning of the season to where we are now, just shows you everybody’s value goes up, everybody is looked at in a different light.

“So for me, as an individual, I really look at it as a team award. We’re the most improved team, honestly. Everybody has played a part in making this thing successful. we’re not done. We want to keep going. So I think this honestly is how well the team has done and everybody’s value goes up from that.”

Randle averaged career highs with 24.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists this season, while shooting 41.1 percent from 3-point range, a major jump from last season’s 27.7 percent in his first season with the Knicks. He also led the league this year in minutes played with 37.6 per game over 71 appearances, missing just one game due to injury.

“Obviously I didn’t have the season I wanted to last year as an individual or as a team, so I wanted to come back better,” Randle said. “I think the only thing that bothered me the most, whether it was true or not, just coming off as a selfish guy or a selfish teammate. … I wanted to come back and be a better teammate and a better leader.”

Randle received 98 out of 100 first-place votes to beat out Pistons forward Jerami Grant and Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., becoming the Knicks’ first most-improved winner since the award’s inception in 1985.

Still, Randle shot just 6-for-23 from the floor and was held to 15 points in the Knicks’ 107-105 loss to Atlanta in his postseason debut Sunday night. TNT analysts Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley told Randle in an earlier interview he must “slow down” in Wednesday’s second game.

“It was hard, man,” Randle replied. “The adrenaline was going so crazy, by the time the second half came, I was done. My energy had crashed. I had an amazing time, even though we lost. It was a learning experience.

“Just to know we have the energy of the city, the support of the city, and they’re cheering us on like that, was amazing and we’ll be sure to be ready for the next one.”

The 26-year-old Randle also was excited that he was handed the award Tuesday by his four-year-old son, Kyden, after practice on the Garden floor.

The seventh-year pro — originally the seventh-overall pick by the Lakers in 2014 out of Kentucky — also wondered if anyone ever had been named the league’s Most Improved Player a second time, setting a goal for next season to be the first.

“To reach this type of accomplishment in my seventh year where I guess people say by that time you are who you are, you’re not going to get any better,” Randle said. “That’s kind of that stigma, once you reach a certain point in your career.

“For me I never believed in that. I know the time and effort that I put into the game. And I always believe you can improve.”