The Knicks need Zion Williamson, but Williamson would be helped by New York.

Tuesday’s draft lottery not only will largely determine where Williamson will play to begin his NBA career, but it will also provide the base for how big of a media sensation he may become.

While in the social-media age, the playing field has been leveled somewhat with players able to reach fans without Madison Avenue, joining the Knicks, with their dreadful history over the last nearly two decades, playing at the Garden and being potentially the biggest sports star in New York would add rocket fuel to what could be the sports-marketing world’s next top-level endorser.

If Williamson’s career goes as planned, he is in line to make tens to hundreds of millions of dollars off the court. Being a Knick would help.

“If he goes to New York, he has the most potential for early endorsements,” said Eric Smallwood, the president of Apex Marketing Group. “It is the nature of the beast, being in the media capital would definitely be helpful for him.”

Williamson, just 18, has captured the attention of so many with his 3.2 million Instagram followers, his athleticism and his exploding Nike in front of former president Barack Obama during a Duke-North Carolina game, that he will be a sensation wherever he ends up.

With a chance to be the Knicks’ savior, he would become an even bigger draw.

“It will be a helluva lot easier to manufacture his personality in New York,” said longtime sneaker marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro, who has a relationship with Williamson and his family. “I can see the billboards in Times Square. That is what I can say: The Knicks are devoid of anything positive for the last 20 years. My God, no matter what happens, it would be the greatest shot of adrenaline in years.

“I previously said the city has nothing to do with the celebrity, but knowing the situation in New York. New York is famous for its fans. This one makes a difference. This is the first time I’ve said that in a long time.”

It was evident at Duke that Williamson was a difference-maker on the court, but also in terms of attention. In February, the Sports Business Journal reported that in a little more than half a year, Duke’s Instagram account added 285,000 followers. That number was more than the overall total of every other program at the time, save for North Carolina and Kentucky.

Meanwhile, Williamson’s popularity has grown on his own Instagram from 12,000 in 2016 to 125,000 in 2017 to 1.13 million in January to 3.2 million now.

On TV, Duke is always popular, but in this past season, led by Williamson, it was involved in five of ESPN’s top-six highest-rated games, led by the infamous busted Nike during Carolina-Duke that had almost five million viewers. Tickets for that game were being priced in the thousands on the secondary market.

“The one thing is unique about him is that he drove a lot of casual fan interest, really above and beyond your casual fan interest,” said Patrick Walsh, an associate professor of sports management at Syracuse. “He’s driving viewership. There is something different and unique about him. At the end of the day, he is still going to have to perform in the NBA. If he doesn’t perform in the NBA, that success could be short-lived.”

Once upon a time, it was obvious being in New York would make marketing easier. Now, with social media and athletes being able to speak directly to their fans, that is not nearly the same case. With Williamson and the Knicks’ struggles, though, this could be different, and the amount of money Williamson can make could be so high he couldn’t even jump over it.

“If you look at the totality of contracts he could make in the hundreds of millions,” Walsh said. “Not on a yearly basis, but if you look at it long term.”