Amar’e Stoudemire’s goal is to return around Christmas, with mid-December no longer a legitimate possibility, according to person familiar with the Knicks power forward’s thinking. The person said Stoudemire hasn’t begun running on the court following his surgery on Nov. 1.
The Knicks’ timetable of six-to-eight weeks from the left-knee-debridement surgery hasn’t changed. Under that time frame, the earliest he could be back is mid-December. The Knicks play the Lakers on Christmas Day.
Stoudemire played just one preseason game — in Montreal Oct. 19 — and his litany of knee-related mishaps since training camp began calls into question whether he will ever be able to make it back onto the court without reinjuring himself.
Stoudemire has had surgeries on both knees, and has a bulging disk in his back that forced him to miss 15 games down the stretch last season.
A source told The Post recently Stoudemire realizes if the Knicks are winning at a solid clip, he expects to come off the bench at the outset. Last week, coach Mike Woodson wouldn’t commit to Stoudemire as a starter but said he’s committed to having the Stoudemire/Carmelo Anthony union work out. Stoudemire continues to undergo rehab and treatment but the club will not reveal what that entails.
There’s been speculation there were talks between the Lakers and Knicks about a Stoudemire-Pau Gasol trade but a source claims nothing took place.
* A Mike D’Antoni confidant said the former Knicks coach doesn’t “regret’’ coming to New York, that his comments Wednesday reflected he wished he never had to leave Phoenix and Steve Nash.
“It has nothing to do with New York,’’ the D’Antoni confidant said. “It’s just you don’t know how good you have it until you don’t have it. They weren’t begging him to stay in Phoenix. The way things played out, he would do it all over again. He loved it here. And now he’s been blessed. He has a second chance working with Steve.’’
D’Antoni was quoted as saying: “I shouldn’t have gone to New York. I should have stuck in there [in Phoenix] and battled.’’
The confidant said D’Antoni knew his days were numbered in New York when then-team president Donnie Walsh declined an extension after the 2010-11 season.
“Mike jumped at the opportunity to work with Donnie,’’ the confidant said.
* Marcus Camby was a DNP again in Milwaukee. He has played in six of 14 games. Even Chris Copeland saw action in the second quarter at power forward ahead of Camby. Woodson explained he won’t put Camby against small alignments. … Knicks (10-4) are 5-0 at Garden.