While the New York Knicks have not approached Derrick Rose about an extension, they have not ruled it out for later in the season.

Rose will be a free agent this offseason after making $21.3 million in the final season of his deal.

The Knicks want to make sure Rose's body holds up this season and are prepared to pay more this summer if necessary.

If he signs an extension now, next season’s salary would begin at $23 million. His wage would go to $24.6 million in Year 2 and $26.2 million in Year 3 to give him $75 million in total over three seasons.

Rose's starting max salary if he waits for the offseason could be as high as $29 million.

“I haven’t talked to them about it,’’ Rose told The Post. “It’s been more about winning games. We’ll see. I’m more concerned with trying to win games, but it’s something I’d have to talk about with my family and team.’’

Derrick Rose has become content with where he is now in his career and isn't chasing his pre-injury MVP form.

“That vintage is gone, man,” Rose said late Tuesday night. “I told you the question should be: Can I hoop? It shouldn’t be like, 'He’s playing like his old self. Like, if I can hoop, I can hoop. No matter if I did that when I was younger or now, I can play the game of basketball.”

Rose tore the ACL in his right knee in 2012 and twice tore the meniscus in his right knee (2014, 2015).

“Your whole life, you’re used to a 1-2 rhythm,” Rose said. “You have one injury, and that kind of resets everything. Let alone you have three, and you’ve got to find your 1-2 -- how high you want to jump on your shot, how high you want to jump on your 3s. All those little things count. Like, this entire time, these three or four years, I’m playing catch-up.”

“I don’t think he would ever be the same Derrick Rose, coming down and dunking,” Carmelo Anthony said. “But he’ll be great at being a different type of player now. That’s kind of what he’s showing.”

Carmelo Anthony responded to comments from Phil Jackson in which he described LeBron James' business partners as his "posse."

"There's different words that different people use in different ways," said Anthony. "To some people, the word posse might not mean anything but to some other people it could be a derogatory statement. It all depends on who you're mentioning it to, who you're talking about, in that sense. In this sense, he was talking about five black men and their situation.

"Do I think he meant it any kind of way? I really know know. I don't think he did. I would hope that he didn't.

"Sometimes Phil just says things and he says the first thing that comes to mind and then probably is in his office right now regretting it. I don't know. When it comes to Phil, you just never know what's going to be said, what's coming out. It depends on who's listening. People take it the right way or people take it the wrong way.

"I just don't understand him talking about LeBron right now, in November. I don't understand that."

Anthony was also asked whether he'd want his friend group to be called a posse.

"I would never want to hear that word about me and my -- I don't want to saw crew but - people I consider family and I've come up with and been through thick and thin," said Anthony. "I would want to be called a tight-knit group or a family but that's what I consider those people to me."

Anthony also believes "posse" is an offensive word.

"I think anybody would understand that. Anybody. I don't think you have to be a rocket scientist or an educated person to understand kind of what that means to us."

Phil Jackson's remarks about LeBron James and his "posse" has received condemnation from Maverick Carter and has also now caused James to lose respect in the current president of the New York Knicks Knicks.

"Zero," James said when asked if he had any previous ties to Jackson. "No relationship at all. I had nothing but respect for him as a coach for what he was able to do. Obviously he was at the helm of (the team featuring) my favorite player of all time, (Michael Jordan), and also being there growing up and watching him with the Lakers, but I got nothing for him."

Q: "Had respect?"

LeBron: "Yeah."

Q: "Until now?"

LeBron: "Yeah."

Jackson made the remarks during a wide ranging interview with Jackie Macmullan.

"It had to hurt when they lost LeBron," Jackson said. "That was definitely a slap in the face. But there were a lot of little things that came out of that. When LeBron was playing with the Heat, they went to Cleveland, and he wanted to spend the night. They don't do overnights. Teams just don't. So now [coach Erik] Spoelstra has to text Riley and say, 'What do I do in this situation?' And Pat, who has iron-fist rules, answers, 'You are on the plane. You are with this team.' You can't hold up the whole team because you and your mom and your posse want to spend an extra night in Cleveland.

"I always thought Pat had this really nice vibe with his guys. But something happened there where it broke down. I do know LeBron likes special treatment. He needs things his way."

Maverick Carter took exception to how Phil Jackson labeled the business associates of LeBron James as a "posse."

"I don't care that he talks about LeBron," Carter said. "He could say he's not that good or the greatest in the world as a basketball player. I wouldn't care. It's the word 'posse' and the characterization I take offense to. If he would have said LeBron and his agent, LeBron and his business partners or LeBron and his friends, that's one thing. Yet because you're young and black, he can use that word. We're grown men."

Carter has been involved in James' business ventures for more than a decade. Carter is based in Los Angeles, where he oversees the entertainment aspects of James' off-court interest.

Jackson made the statement while revisiting the departure of James from the Miami Heat.

"It had to hurt when they lost LeBron," Jackson said. "That was definitely a slap in the face. But there were a lot of little things that came out of that. When LeBron was playing with the Heat, they went to Cleveland, and he wanted to spend the night. They don't do overnights. Teams just don't. So now [coach Erik] Spoelstra has to text Riley and say, 'What do I do in this situation?' And Pat, who has iron-fist rules, answers, 'You are on the plane. You are with this team.' You can't hold up the whole team because you and your mom and your posse want to spend an extra night in Cleveland.

"I always thought Pat had this really nice vibe with his guys. But something happened there where it broke down. I do know LeBron likes special treatment. He needs things his way."

Phil Jackson was asked about how he's handled the adversity the New York Knicks have faced since he became president of the club.

While the Knicks have drafted Kristaps Porzingis and re-signed Carmelo Anthony, they have yet to reach the playoffs as they're stuck between win-now mode and building for the future.

"I knew the parameters of what would go on from years of playing in series against the Knicks," said Jackson. "I remember all the barbs. It's a process of sticking to my beliefs and being able to say, 'Whatever.' This is what I was hired to do. I'm going to follow the plan and if it doesn't work out, it will be evident."

Jackson was also asked about the opt-out clause in his contract after the 16-17 season and whether he plans to exercise it.

"I have not entertained that. I'm looking for this Knicks team to get back into a situation where they are competitive. Do I have to win a championship before I feel I've done the job I've been asked to do, which is to bring this group back to that competitive level? No, I don't. We're starting to make progress. I like a lot of the things we are doing here. But we've got more to do."

Jackson has been linked to a return to the Los Angeles Lakers at various points during his tenure with the Knicks.

"They're moving forward in the right direction," said Jackson. "Luke (Walton) has them engaged, Brian (Shaw) is an associate head coach; they have a core group of guys that will get it done. It was never important to me to go back and be a part of that. Especially not now. I have this job, this commitment."

Jackson explained the opt-out clause was related to a potential lockout in 2017 that now appears unlikely.

"The real issue with the opt out was simply my rationale regarding the (potential) lockout. If it was going to happen in December and everybody chose to walk away, there was no way I was going to sit in New York for three, four months when I didn't have a job, because (the players) aren't even allowed to show up to work. So, in that case, I would go back to L.A."

The New York Knicks have placed Kurt Rambis in charge of their defense following their 2-4 start to the season.

The Knicks rank last in the NBA in defensive efficiency at 114.5 points per 100 possessions.

Rambis finished last season as interim head coach of the Knicks following the dismissal of Derek Fisher.

Jeff Hornacek was hired by the Knicks as head coach in the offseason.

Phil Jackson has been upset with the infrequency in which the New York Knicks are running the triangle offense to begin the 16-17 season during their 2-4 start.

Jeff Hornacek has tried to speed up the offense this season and hasn't run much of the triangle in the first six games. 

One scout who watched the Knicks' win against the Bulls said the Knicks ran something out of a triangle set only a handful of times.

Players say that they've run the triangle offense primarily after dead balls so far this season, which is much less frequently than it was run during Jackson's first two full seasons as team president.

The Knicks rank 13th in offense while ranking last on defense.

Jackson noted last month that today's players may not be suited to run the triangle.

"How do you teach a system that requires so many fundamental skills to players that really haven't been taught some of that basic stuff?" Jackson said on The Big Podcast with Shaquille O'Neal. "Footwork and passing and all those rudiment type of skills that are learned that have been, that have changed over a few years? It's a different game.

"I solicited Jeff because Jeff came from a system, Utah had a nice system, and he wanted to accelerate the game and play at the pace that's kind of, present ballplayers like to play at. And yet, find a way to try and incorporate [a system to space the floor in the half-court offense]. It's got to be done in a way in which it doesn't slow the game down but actually accentuates what they're trying to do."

The New York Knicks continue to struggle defending the pick-and-roll as they practice against their own Triangle offense.

The Knicks rank last in the NBA in defense at 114.5 points per 100 possessions allowed.

“That’s the way the game of basketball is being played these days; regardless of whether we want to admit to it or not, that’s the game of basketball,” Carmelo Anthony said about the pick-and-roll. “Everybody runs it. If you can figure out a way how to stop that, you think you can be successful.”

The Knicks have struggled over the past week against the pick-and-roll of both the Rockets and Jazz.

Derrick Rose talked about the way Tom Thibodeau helped forge the identity of the Chicago Bulls during his tenure there in relation to the current state of the New York Knicks.

The Knicks have struggled on defense so far this season, ranking 26th at 110.2 points allowed per 100 possesions.

“You got to build that (defensive identity),” Derrick Rose said. “I’ve played on teams where before Thibs got there to Chicago, we didn’t have an identity. And he came and he changed the culture there, and he changed the identity. And we could do that here. We have to and we’re going to. But like I said, it takes time.”

Phil Jackson wasn't interested in interviewing Thibodeau during his coaching search.