The Pelicans have gained hope in such youngsters as Zion Williamson, though he has yet to make his NBA debut, and Jaxson Hayes, who was drafted five slots after the Knicks made RJ Barrett the third pick of the 2019 draft.

The Knicks don’t have that. The two teams met at the Garden in a nationally televised game Friday night and the Pelicans (14-25) crushed the Knicks (10-29) from the outside with 3-point shots (18-for-38) and in the paint on their way to an easy 123-111 victory.

Imagine when they get Williamson rolling after he comes back from a knee injury.

In fact, the Knicks’ hero is not yet at the Garden. That hero figures to be the Raptors’ president of basketball operations, Masai Ujiri. Until he arrives to begin to save the Knicks how do you measure hope around here?

Williamson said of the 6-foot-11 Hayes, who scored 18 off the bench with 10 rebounds and two blocks: “Jaxson has come a long way. I think every rookie that comes in has to adjust to the league so he has adjusted very well. He has been giving us big minutes.’’

The bar has been lowered for Knicks fans, whose biggest cheers of the night revolve around T-shirts being shot up into the crowd. In their defense, they have had to lower the bar to survive this parade of year-in and year-out bad basketball.

If you are looking for a single highlight from Friday night, it occurred about an hour before tip-off when Williamson was working his outside shot in the corner of the court closest to the Knicks’ locker room. The No. 1-overall pick from last year’s draft roared into the paint, put the ball between his legs and dunked, drawing a huge cheer from the early arrivals. His right knee is still not ready, but his time is coming.

Knicks fans had hoped Williamson would be their No. 1 pick. It never worked out.

The Knicks went to Barrett with the third pick. He finished Friday with 16 points on 5-for-15 shooting from the field and 1-for-4 from 3-point range as the inept Knicks missed 22 of 27 3-point attempts.

This was the Knicks’ first game back after losing four straight on a western swing. It was as if they are still out west. No matter who is in the lineup, the Knicks always seem to have the same problem. They can’t defend.

Defense comes from the gut, a will not to let the other player beat you. You have to be quick to close out on the 3-point shooter. The Knicks weren’t. You have to guard the paint. The Knicks didn’t. You have to care enough to put your body in jeopardy, but for the most part the Knicks collect players who care only about offense.

Defense is not in their basketball soul. The Knicks knew they had to guard the 3 on this night, but they still couldn’t.

“They are one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the league, we knew that going in, No. 3 in the corners, No. 7 overall so we wanted to try to do a better job covering the line and they came out and hit 12 in the first half which is normally what they get for the game,’’ said interim coach Mike Miller, who has to try to clean up this mess on a nightly basis. “We have to do a better job of getting stops.’’

When I covered the Patrick Ewing Knicks, that team played defense. You could see it by the sweat on the floor. These Knicks go through the motions. In the four games out west, the Knicks surrendered 120, 135, 117 and 128 points. That is just giving up on the defensive end. Hope can start with one defensive close out. The Knicks dropped to 5-13 at home.

“We talked this morning with our group,’’ Miller explained. “This is one of the opportunities that we have, we need to be ready. We need to be bounce back. Every time we go out we tell them we want this to be our best day.’’

Instead, it was another worst day for the groundhog Knicks.

That is how you lose games, lose seasons and lose all hope.