It was a long Veterans Day Weekend for coach David Fizdale and the Knicks.

It started Friday, with Kristaps Porzingis making Fizdale look bad with a salty Instagram post of him sprinting — after Fizdale had said he wasn’t planning on Porzingis’ return this season. The post created speculation there was friction between Fizdale and the temperamental Latvian star.

It grew worse with two blowout losses — Saturday in Toronto (excusable) and Sunday at the Garden against Orlando (inexcusable).

Also on Saturday, Jimmy Butler, who put the Knicks on his trade wish list, was shipped to rival Philadelphia, which didn’t give up a first-round pick. Reports of a long-term future for Butler and Philly mean another free-agent target will be off the Knicks’ radar in July.

The baby Knicks received their season’s first boos after losing the back-to-back by a combined 42 points. Collectively, the Knicks looked like they were hitting the rookie wall with a three-game road trip awaiting, beginning Wednesday in Oklahoma City before stops in New Orleans and a rematch in Orlando. By the time the Knicks return next week, their record may have worsened from 4-10 to 4-13.

Even though an unusually positive fan base has accepted Fizdale’s declaration he’s “not chasing wins,’’ the clientele doesn’t aspire for Tim Hardaway Jr.’s Knicks to be humiliated regularly as they were versus the Magic.

Amid all this bad stuff, including lingering point-guard issues, a silver lining emerged.

Lost amid the hubbub of Porzingis publicly disputing the tenor of Fizdale’s remarks, the Instagram post shows Porzingis really wants to get back this season. Otherwise, why did he bother?

The franchise — despite a silly notion it’s better if he’s unable to recover — needs him.

As exciting as it is to see rookie center Mitchell Robinson rise as a shotblocking stud and lottery pick Kevin Knox find his smooth game the past two outings, the picture doesn’t make sense unless Porzingis is eventually along for the ride, improving his still-not-fully developed game.

Asking Fizdale to weave a super rusty Porzingis into the mix after a 20-month layoff next October is a tall order — and unnecessary.

As long as Porzingis is healthy and passes his strength tests on his quads and hamstrings this winter, as long as he’s mentally ready, why not?

There’s no sane reason for this not to be a beautiful thing, allowing Fizdale to trot out a frontcourt of Robinson, Porzingis and Knox. It may even reshape the passions of free-agent point guard Kyrie Irving. He is on record saying he wants to recommit to Boston. Irving is also on record saying last February he’s told Porzingis he’s always wanted to play with a big man like him.

For those worried about losing pingpong balls for the Zion Williamson sweepstakes, relax. The lottery police should know a Porzingis winter return is not going to resurrect the Knicks’ fortunes. Porzingis will be very rusty and on a very restrictive minutes limit (20). Plus the lottery format has changed due to the Sixers’ “Trust The (Tanking) Process.’’ Lottery reform has the worst three teams sharing the same odds.

His return is just about gaining chemistry and seeing if adding an elite 3-point shooter to the mix changes the equilibrium.

There’s speculation Porzingis is hesitant about playing because he didn’t get his Oct. 15 contract extension in the name of 2019 cap space. Porzingis doesn’t break his silence on Instagram, with a photo of him sprinting on a track, if he doesn’t want fans to know he’s trying to make it back in 2018-19.

Fizdale made remarks that weren’t endearing to Porzingis, saying he’s “not even planning on KP at all” because he needed to maintain focus on his healthy players. He wrongly asserted Porzingis was still doing “light running’’ and not sprinting — same as in training camp.

There was an erroneous internet headline — later amended — claiming “Fizdale says Porzingis can’t run.’’

The text of Porzingis’ missive contained the word “bull-s–t” and Fizdale gave his mea culpa the next day. Fizdale said he was “a doofus’’ for being unaware, claimed Porzingis was “frustrated’’ at the depiction.

“I think how he took it was that people thought he wasn’t busting his hump, he took it personally. It got to him that people would think that,’’ Fizdale said. “My big thing is, I’m just happy when I get him back.’’

That is the net gain from an agonizingly long weekend — Porzingis wants it to happen sooner than later and that’s not bulls–t.