The Knicks are not expected to bring back Earl Barron as a fourth center on the roster, which I expect will result in great dismay from you Barronites out there. He played all of seven games last season — hey, that equaled Eddy Curry — but he left a strong enough impression on fans to conjure regular requests from Fixer Nation for me to look into his status with the 2010-11 roster. With Curry, Ronny Turiaf and Russian rookie Timofey Mozgov on the depth chart at center, the Knicks aren’t in the market for yet another big man. The discovery (and signing) of Mozgov effectively ended Barron’s chances of a return, even after rookie Jerome Jordan opted to go to Serbia rather than come to camp this year.

At this point, you still have to expect someone will give the 29-year-old journeyman, who has a nice touch around the rim, can rebound and block shots, at least the veteran’s minimum. Once Lou Amundson makes a decision on his future — the New Orleans Hornets appear to be the front-runner — teams such as the Warriors and Pacers could turn their attention to Barron. “We are having discussions with several teams regarding Earl,” Barron’s agent, Mark Termini, said when we spoke today.

Isiah Thomas said he doesn’t think that 20 years ago he and Michael Jordan and Larry Bird and Magic Johnson would’ve teamed up to play together on the same team.

“None of us were ever given the opportunity to do that,” he said.

“Magic had great teammates. He didn’t want to join anybody because, you know, he had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Before Michael Jordan, Kareem was considered the best to ever play. He had Kareem and [James] Worthy. Bird had [Kevin] McHale, [Robert] Parrish, [Bill] Walton. And you look at Jordan, he had Hall of Famers. [Scottie] Pippen just went into the Hall of Fame. [Dennis] Rodman will be in the Hall of Fame, should’ve been in the Hall of Fame earlier. They had some good players.”

He added: “The times are different and you just have to adjust to the times.”

After doing some checking, sources with knowledge of the situation say there wasn’t a three-team deal in place. It actually was that the Pacers offered a first round pick for Randolph and Walsh declined that. The Blazers weren’t involved, but obviously if Walsh got his hands on a first round pick he could have then flipped it to Portland to get Fernandez. A first round pick is what the Blazers are asking. The Knicks earlier in the summer offered two second rounders, which Portland declined.

Rudy Fernandez continues to lobby for a trade to New York, but the Knicks either can’t or won’t make a trade for the Portland shooting guard.

According to a team source, Knicks president Donnie Walsh recently rejected a three-team deal that would have sent Anthony Randolph to Indiana, a first-round pick to Portland and Fernandez to New York. Because the Trail Blazers are insisting on receiving a first-round pick in return for Fernandez, the Knicks likely need to recruit a third team in order to complete a deal. The Blazers apparently have little interest in Wilson Chandler. Fernandez, who is currently playing for Spain at the world championships in Turkey, was fined by the NBA for publicly asking for a trade.

The Knicks maintain a strong interest in Rudy Fernandez, who would solve their issue at the 2, but it’ll be up to the Blazers to make it happen. From what I’m hearing, the Blazer hierarchy is none too pleased with Rudy and his agent, Andy Miller, who have gone public with their trade preferences. So several NBA insiders have suggested to me that Portland will exhaust all other options before they’d even consider doing Rudy a favor and sending him exactly where he wants to go, especially if the Knicks aren’t offering anything they really want. And what they want is a first round pick. The Knicks could give them one, but not until 2014.

Toney Douglas only could laugh when two of the first three questions from young kids at a Knicks youth camp in the Hamptons were on his thoughts on LeBron James choosing Miami over the Knicks.

Douglas said he only can control what he can control. What he should have said is he can’t wait to meet James in the playoffs. Because Douglas, the Knicks’ backup point guard, said he thinks his team is going to break its six-year playoff drought.

“Definitely,” Douglas told The Post yesterday at Hayground School in Bridgehampton. “I feel like have a lot of talent. We just all have to be on one page and make sure everybody is totally on it. I feel we are a playoff team.”

Douglas, the Knicks’ most tenacious defender, said one of the reasons he has worked so hard is he wants to be a leader this season. There were none during last season’s 29-53 campaign.

“I had an OK rookie year, but this year I want to be more vocal and be one of the leaders on the court,” Douglas said. “At the same time, you can’t be a leader if you don’t hold up your end of the bargain. If people are slacking, I’ll tell them. If I’m slacking, I want them to tell me.”

Andy Rautins, who is playing for Team Canada, has been dealing with a balky knee that bothered him even before the World Championships. He could miss a game later today and, with training camp set to begin in three weeks, it might be wise for him to pull out of the Worlds so he is ready to play for the Knicks when camp opens Set. 25.

The Knicks have both forwards in the bag and perhaps in a sizeable starting lineup. The 6-foot-10 Randolph could play small forward, the 6-foot-10 Gallinari at shooting guard and Amar’e’ Stoudemire at power forward.

Randolph and Gallinari met each other for the first time earlier this week during workouts out at the Knicks Westchester compound.

“I knew he was a a great shooter, but working out with him now, you really see it,” Randolph told The Post yesterday at the Knicks’ kids camp at the Ross School in East Hampton. “That would be a very fine lineup — three guys nearly 7 feet.”

If Randolph is as good as the Knicks think, Gallinari will have to play shooting guard to keep the ex-Warrior as a starter. The Knicks do not have a legit starting shooting guard, especially with Kelenna Azubuike unlikely to be 100 percent when training camp begins Sept. 25 as he recovers from knee patella surgery.

New York Knickerbockers President of Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh announced today that forward Patrick Ewing, Jr. has been signed as a free agent. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

It may or may not be a guaranteed deal, in which case it’s no sure thing he gets to stick around for too long.

Kelenna Azubuike, who was expected to compete for a starting job, may start training camp on the sideline, because of lingering concerns over his surgically repaired left knee.

Azubuike tore his patellar tendon last November while playing for the Golden State Warriors. He missed the rest of the season, and the Warriors expected he would need a full year to recover.

The Knicks are taking a similarly conservative approach.

“We’re not sure,” said the team president Donnie Walsh, who described a torn patellar tendon as “one of the worst injuries in the league.”

Azubuike spent most of the summer rehabilitating with a private trainer. He just began working with the Knicks’ staff this week, so team officials do not yet have a firm assessment. Azubuike is not yet running or jumping, which suggests that he is a long way from playing high-level basketball.

“I think it’s 50-50 whether he’ll be ready for training camp right now,” D’Antoni said. “He thinks he will be.”