As the David Griffin flirtation demonstrated, the Knicks already have their successor to former president Phil Jackson.

According to sources debriefed on their front-office search, owner James Dolan is moving forward with a plan that has Steve Mills remaining as the permanent president. No negotiations have taken place yet between the Knicks and Mills.

However, subsequent interviews will be done to find a No. 2 man under Mills, who will be part of the process from here on. Just as Jackson did, Mills is expected to have final say on personnel matters. It’s the same role Mills had when he was hired to replace Glen Grunwald as president before the 2013-14 season.

Mills’ presidential run came to an end after five months, when owner James Dolan, with the team sputtering, embarked on the $60 million Phil Folly. Mills stayed on as general manager but actually was the third-most influential voice after Jackson and his top adviser, Clarence Gaines Jr. Yet Jackson said repeatedly he hoped Mills would be his successor.

At this juncture, a marquee hire to fill the GM role — such as Griffin — would be surprising. Toronto president Masai Ujiri would have been considered for the Knicks presidency, but nothing progressed when it was learned the amount of draft compensation needed for any deal.

Though former Staples Center boss Tim Leiweke has organized a search for candidates, applicants have also been advised to contact Mills and Dolan about the position. Mills didn’t attend Tim Hardaway Jr.’s press conference Monday because he still doesn’t have concrete answers regarding the front office makeup.

It is expected Mills and Dolan will focus more on assistant GMs and player personnel directors seeking a promotion rather than someone such as Griffin, who was the top guy in Cleveland and built teams that reached three consecutive NBA Finals.

Hence, the search may be a prolonged one. Late last month ESPN reported Griffin was interviewing for the secondary role, so he may have known going in that the issue of who would be the top decision-maker on basketball personnel matters would loom large.

Griffin decided to withdraw his name from consideration because of the murky nature of his power on personnel matters and an inability to hire a couple of his former personnel men.

“As it turned out, he wasn’t interested in the job and wasn’t a good fit for the role,’’ one NBA source close to the Cavs GM said.

A Mills-Griffin marriage could have been awkward. Griffin fired one of Mills’ best friends, Cavs coach David Blatt. Mills could one day decide to bring Blatt to the Knicks. Blatt interviewed last year before losing out to Jeff Hornacek.

Allan Houston could be named GM, as he has a tight relationship with Mills. Houston was assistant GM before Jackson arrived. Houston is now GM of the developmental league Westchester Knicks but was by Mills’ side during the Orlando summer league, hoping for a larger role.