He drives the Pacers of the Knicks in the Gordon Hayward race

The Knicks may not be fighting Boston for a chance to make the most famous square in the world – Madison Square Gordon.

The Pacers gained a chance to bring former Celtics star Gordon Hayward back to his home in Indy, where he grew up and led Butler to the NFL First Division Finals twice.

According to a source, the Pacers are Hayward’s front runners and are trying to land him via tag and trade. Pacers don’t have the cover space but names like Aaron Holiday and Myles Turner have appeared.

In fact, the only two teams with a lot of room to contract Hayward are the Knicks and Hawks. The Knicks have an interest in Hayward and there are two jazz graduates on the Knicks. But Hayward prefers to go home.

New Assistant General Manager Walt Perrin drafted Hayward in 2010 with the tenth pick. Recently hired, Johnny Bryant trained Hayward to coach Hayward for years before he left for Boston in 2017 and saw his all-star path waning.

The Knicks has $ 35 million of dedicated space to enter the free agency opening Friday night. The Post previously reported The Nicks would need to bid at least two to three years at $ 20 million each.

Knicks are also in the market for a veteran point guard who could be a start. DJ Augustin, Jeff Teague, Kris Dunn on their list. Goran Dragic re-signed with Miami.

If the Knicks hadn’t made it to Hayward, they’re interested in Davis Bertans of Washington, who would have met the Wizards first at 6 p.m.

Nicks prefers to have the Celtics team sign and trade as well, as they can drop some of the paycheck. With striker Obi Tobin drafting and Hayward added, Julius Randall becomes much more consumable.

Hayward, 30, is the perfect addition as a playmaker striker who shoots well from a 3-point range and was an All-Star in 2017 before breaking his leg. He averaged 17 points in a 50% field shot in 2019-20. His recent decline led to speculation that he would choose to participate in his last year of $ 34 million with Boston, but he threw a curve ball when he chose not to participate on Thursday.

His agent is Mark Bartelstein, who was ceded by three agents by the Knicks Thursday at Gibson’s Crown, Bobby Portis and Wayne Ellington. One of them, Gibson or Portes, has a legitimate opportunity to come back with fewer deals.