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New York Knicks guard Emmanuel Mudiay, left, looks to pass against Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game Monday, March 4, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif.The Associated Press

The New York Knicks will not be going to the NBA playoffs.

If this doesn’t feel like hot-off-the-presses news, it shouldn’t. You may have checked the standings earlier in the season and seen that the Knicks were 4-10, or 8-20, or 10-40.

With Monday night’s 115-108 loss to the Kings in Sacramento, the Knicks fell to a record of 13-51, the worst in the league. Yes, even worse than the Chicago Bulls, the Cleveland Cavaliers and (shudder) the Phoenix Suns. The loss also officially eliminated the Knicks from a playoff race they were unofficially eliminated from months ago.

The loss, to a team that will probably also miss the playoffs, was hardly mitigated by a good scoring effort by rookie shooting guard Allonzo Trier, who had 29 points.

The Knicks are last in the league in shooting percentage and last in assists. So, in short, they can’t pass and they can’t shoot. Basketball Reference reports that they are particularly bad at the easiest type of shot, shooting only .603 from 3 feet or closer and .348 from 3 to 10 feet, both worst in the league.

Rookie center Mitchell Robinson is fifth in the league in total blocks and third in blocks a game. That’s good. But no other Knick is in the top five in anything. That’s not good.

When you don’t have a lot of wins, you wind up with some losing streaks. It’s just math. The Knicks came into the new year with an eight-game, a six-game and a couple of five-game skids, as one might expect. More unexpected: In January and February, the Knicks lost 18 in a row.

On the plus side, the Knicks have put together two winning streaks. One was two games and the other was three.

The Knicks have now missed the playoffs for six consecutive years, just short of the franchise record. From 1960 to 1966, the Knicks missed the playoffs seven straight times. But those Knicks teams always won at least 21 games in that span. This season, the Knicks are on a pace to win 16 or 17 games, giving them a chance to break the franchise-worst record of 17 in the abysmal 2014-15 season.

Knicks fans, desperate for a light at the end of the 82-game tunnel, are already focusing on the coming draft lottery, right Spike Lee? Zion Williamson, Duke’s dominant centre, is the big prize. Adding Williamson and a couple of free agents lured by the bright lights of New York may finally bring the postseason back to Madison Square Garden.

Unfortunately for the Knicks, the rules have been changed some this year, and having the very worst record does not offer any advantage. The three worst teams, one of whom is virtually certain to be the Knicks, all will have an identical 14 percent chance of landing the top pick. If the Knicks really are tanking to get a lower lottery spot, they can probably stop now.

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