DALLAS — Jason Kidd said the idea of leaving the Mavericks for the Knicks last summer never even entered his mind.

“I think when you look at what the Knicks did this summer, understanding it was denied, but I never was thinking about leaving,” Kidd said before his Mavericks fell to the Knicks, 113-111, on Wednesday. “I love Dallas, I love working for [owner] Patrick [Dumont], understanding there’s a lot of work to be done to be a champion, and I’m all in to be able to do that. I was drafted here, I won here. I love the city, I love the fans, and so it never crossed my mind to leave Dallas.

“But I think it’s safe to say we all enjoy being wanted, and so, that was a nice touch.”

The Knicks fired Tom Thibodeau after their Eastern Conference finals loss to the Pacers, and before interviewing available candidates, Leon Rose’s front office asked for permission to speak with several sitting head coaches — Kidd first among them. Dallas denied the request and later extended Kidd’s contract.

The Knicks ultimately hired Mike Brown. Before tipoff, Kidd reflected on his lone season playing in New York.

“It’s the Mecca. It’s one of the most popular places to play the game of basketball. I would say I enjoyed that one year,” he said. “The car ran out of gas at the end. I had to park it. But I really enjoyed that place when I played on the other side of the river in New Jersey.”

Brown’s bench

Brown has leaned heavily on his bench early — not just to prepare them for high-pressure minutes later, but to manage workloads across a long season.

“The reality of it is I don’t want to gas my guys this early in the season, and if the minutes can be respectable across the board, especially at this point in the year, then we can increase the minutes come playoff time or come late in the season,” he said. “So to me that’s one of the biggest things. Then getting these guys reps in case someone gets hurt or in case we have to throw somebody in the game, there is a comfort level that they have, I have, our staff has, everybody else has with somebody new on the floor.”

Mikal Bridges leads the Knicks at 35 minutes per game. Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby are all above 30. Four bench players are averaging between 18 and 25 minutes in Year 1 under Brown.

Diawara’s minutes

Rookie Mohamed Diawara is one of the players Brown is trying to work into the mix while Anunoby recovers from a hamstring strain.

“I would have loved to try to throw Mo out there a little bit longer,” Brown said after the win over the Mavericks. “I think Mo’s done a great job in the short minutes he’s played.”

Drafted 51st in June, Diawara intrigued the Knicks with his measurables: a 6-9 frame, a 7-4 wingspan, and a staggering 9-2 standing reach. All of it flashed in a brief two-minute stint on Wednesday — first rotating from the weak side to block Max Christie at the rim, then challenging Naji Marshall at the cup seconds later, forcing free throws instead of giving up a layup.

“[We’d like] to try to get him some minutes during this time of the year, especially while OG’s out, to keep us long and athletic would be ideal,” Brown said.

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