Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau has already talked about playing guys who “impact winning” regardless of age.

But after Sunday’s first official group practice, Thibodeau emphasized how vital “taking advantage” of the strengths of young legs can be on the rebuilding Knicks during this 72-game pandemic season.

“One of the strengths of our club, we are young and we are athletic,” Thibodeau said on a Zoom call Sunday. “I want to take advantage of that. Obviously when you have older guys, the strengths they have … they have the tricks of the trade down pat. When you’re younger hopefully you can take advantage of your legs and athleticism.”

The growth of the Knicks’ last three lottery picks — plus 2018 second-rounder Mitchell Robinson — are all keys to whether the team will make the jump into a club that at least competes for the playoffs.

Obi Toppin, their latest lottery pick at No. 8 in November’s draft, already is wowing the Knicks with his athletic gifts. RJ Barrett, their 2019 lottery pick, is considered an attacking player in transition and there’s still hope for Kevin Knox, who has an inside-outside game that could be a force. Knox was drafted with the ninth pick in 2018

Having no summer league for Toppin and Barrett probably wasn’t the best thing, Thibodeau acknowledged.

“We weren’t part of the bubble but we had a chance in the summer to spend some time together,” Thibodeau said. “Guys are at different points in terms of conditioning. Certainly there’s a challenge with your younger guys. They missed summer league, they missed fall practices. Their adjustment is quite big.”

Barrett, 20, thinks he’ll be just fine despite a shortened rookie season and without the traditional offseason routine between first and second seasons.

“No complaints,” Barrett said. “I got to work out a lot, I got to work on my game a lot during the summer. If anything it gave me more time to study my game and really work on details of what I got to do to get better.”

The Knicks still have $18 million in cap space for either more free-agent signings or slipping a player in via a trade. All this despite having a full 20-man training camp roster.

Knicks president Leon Rose, who hasn’t addressed the media in more than four months, attended the first practice in Tarrytown Sunday.

Asked if there still could be outside moves before the Knicks’ Dec. 23 season opener in Indiana, Thibodeau said anything is possible.

“I think improving your club never ends,” Thibodeau said. “For me, I’m focused on the players that we have here. And I think Leon’s job and the front office is every day to look at what opportunities we do have. Obviously we can use the cap space to get a player. We can trade. There’s a lot of things that we can do, and I don’t think that ever stops.”

Incidentally, the Knicks face the Pacers and guard Victor Oladipo, who had been on the trading block in the offseason, in the opener. The Post has reported Oladipo is getting along very well with the Pacers’ new coaching staff and is not as available as he may have been.