Coach Mike Woodson has ruled out defensive forward Rasheed Wallace for tonight’s home game against San Antonio and Saturday’s contest in Orlando. That means Wallace’s chronic sore left foot will have cost the Knicks 11 straight games.
Wallace’s $1.4 million veteran minimum’s contract won’t be guaranteed in full until Jan. 9. The Knicks are willing to roll the dice that Wallace will play more than he sits across the final months and have no plans on waiving him.
The Knicks said the 38-year-old Wallace has a stress reaction in his foot and not a fracture. However, a stress reaction can turn into a fracture without proper rest. A stress fracture would put Wallace out two months.
In Sacramento Friday, Woodson predicted Wallace might return on New Year’s.
The Knicks defense has slid without Wallace’s length and smarts off the bench. J.R. Smith said after the latest loss to Portland Tuesday defensive communication is lacking — Wallace’s specialty.
“You miss him a lot,’’ Woodson said when asked about his verbosity. “One of the reasons bringing him to New York, I know he brings that to the table. It’s contagious. When you have one or two guys talking all the time, you do miss him.’’
* Woodson said the defensive slippage is likely due to the lack of practice time for most of December, calling it “a drought.’’ The Knicks have staged three practices in four days.
“On the perimeter, we got to start taking pride in guarding the ‘damn’ basketball,’’ Woodson said.
* Iman Shumpert (ACL surgery) returned to practice Sunday when the Knicks returned from their West Coast trip and yesterday was leading offensive walk-through drills as point guard. With Raymond Felton (finger) out, Shumpert could see a lot of action at point guard when he returns — possibly in a couple of weeks.
Woodson said Shumpert was cleared for minor contact in individual drills but not for five-on-five scrimmages, which is the final step.
“He’s getting some individual contact, but from a five-on-five, he’s not there yet,’’ Woodson said.
Shumpert told The Post during the western trip he won’t rush back just because of Felton’s injury. The Knicks’ point-guard situation looked vulnerable against Portland as Jason Kidd and Pablo Prigioni combined for two points and six assists.
Kidd had his worst game — 0-for-5, going scoreless.
“We want them to be more aggressive,’’ Woodson said.
* Amare Stoudemire’s season debut on Tuesday was the Knicks’ highest-rated game on MSG Network this season.
The game drew a 5.3 rating, the network said. The previous high was a 4.77 rating when the Rockets beat the Knicks last month in Jeremy Lin’s return to the Garden.