KNICK NOTES

AUBURN HILLS – In early December, days before the Knicks wasted their $4.5M injury exception, coach Don Chaney lamented, “I wish there was a 7-footer out there who could play.”

At the time, there was no free-agent center to sign with the exception. Now there could be. But the question is, can a 7-foot-1, 330-pound house named Stanley Roberts still play?

Because of the league’s dearth of big, back-to-the-basket, old-school centers, there may just be a spot for a rusty Roberts at age 32.

Roberts, Shaquille O’Neal’s LSU teammate banned from the NBA after testing positive for an amphetamine-type substance in 1999, was reinstated Thursday, and the Sixers hold his rights, with a 30-day window to offer him a contract. If not, Roberts becomes a free agent.

“It’s something we’d have to meet about,” Chaney said last night when asked if the Knicks would have interest.

Roberts’ agent, Brian Parker, has targeted the Knicks in the East and Memphis in the West as teams Roberts can best help as a big body off the bench.

Working out at Houston’s famed Westside Tennis Club, Roberts has “slimmed” from 375 pounds a year ago to his current 330.

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Tonight the Knicks face Atlanta, the league’s biggest disappointment. It’s the first time Latrell Sprewell and Glenn Robinson, back from an elbow injury, will match up after almost being traded for each other over the summer.