NBA

Woodson: Knicks looking to buy out World Peace, Udrih

ATLANTA — Say goodbye to World Peace.

Knicks coach Mike Woodson said Saturday the club is working on a contract buyout for Queensbridge’s Metta World Peace and for Beno Udrih, which would end their tumultuous stints with the team.

Both players flew home from Atlanta before Saturday night’s 107-98 loss to the Hawks. Woodson, who took World Peace and Udrih out of the rotation in recent weeks after both were key offseason free-agent signings, said the club will “go in another direction.’’

The Knicks will have two open roster spots, and Woodson said they will look to sign at least one player.

World Peace’s controversial brother, Daniel Artest, broke the news on Twitter on Saturday morning. World Peace confirmed it with a tweet at 11:15 a.m.:

“Thank NYC for everything,’’ he wrote. “Thanks for having me. I will always be grateful… My agent is working on a buyout. No disrespect to the city. Luv U.’’

But he didn’t love the Knicks and asked to be released. It was a depressing end to World Peace’s stint as a Knick. He spent his whole career wanting to play for his hometown team, but never could earn Woodson’s trust.

“It surprised me,’’ Carmelo Anthony said. “[Friday] Metta said he was in a good place. He was happy. He played. He was a different Metta. I was surprised to wake up to hear he wanted a buyout.’’

After revealing the buyout talks, Daniel Artest unleashed a series of derogatory tweets aimed at Woodson and Knicks owner James Dolan, which he later deleted. Daniel Artest told The Post on Saturday, “Woodson and Dolan, they don’t know what they’re doing.’’

One of his deleted tweets, according to Bleacher Report, stated Woodson was “trash as a coach and the Knicks are a trash organization.’’

Asked what went wrong, Woodson said: “I won’t say anything went wrong. … They weren’t in the rotation. I’m not going to dwell, we’re buying them out and as a coach, guys who worked for me, I wish them the best.”

But Woodson appeared to take a shot at how Udrih and World Peace handled their demotions.

“You’re trying to build a team, it should always be about team and if a guy’s not playing you can’t play everybody,’’ Woodson said. “If you’re not playing, you still have to be a good teammate and be ready to play when called upon,’’ he said.

The Knicks will look at another center or swingman. Recently waived Antawn Jamison and Glen Davis could be candidates. If Danny Granger gets cut by the 76ers, he’ll be a target. Kurt Thomas is looking to make a comeback, too, as The Post reported, but said he was hoping to join a title contender.

“We’re going to look in a different direction, find a spot or two for our ballclub,” Woodson said. “I don’t know at this point, I’ll get back and I’ll talk to Steve [Mills, the general manager] and ownership [Sunday] sometime, see the list of players who are out there and make a decision from there.”

The Post reported two weeks ago World Peace would be open to a trade. Udrih requested a trade in recent weeks.

After World Peace came back from his blood-spinning therapy, he made a wisecrack at practice about his lack of playing time that Woodson overheard and took exception, The Post reported.

Both World Peace and Udrih are represented by the same agent, Marc Cornstein. It’s a major turn because multiple sources said nobody seemed more excited about signing a contract than World Peace did last July.

Udrih said Friday in Orlando he was “exploring his options’’ regarding a buyout and was going to see if Iman Shumpert’s injury changed his status. It didn’t and he did not play for the 14th time in 15 games.

World Peace issued a tweet late Friday night despite playing seven minutes against the Magic, saying he should fire his agent and hire a CAA agent because the coaching staff is represented by the agency.

Udrih had signed for the veteran’s minimum ($1.4 million) and World Peace took the rest of the Knicks’ mid-level exception at about $1.6 million.

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