Courtney Lee’s locker at the Garden hung next to Carmelo Anthony’s last season. Thursday in the Knicks season opener, Lee may be draped all over Anthony on the court in Oklahoma City.

In search of a speedier defensive starting unit, Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek is expected to start Lee at small forward against the Thunder, using a small alignment. He makes an intriguing pairing with shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr.

At the morning shootaround Friday, Hornacek told Lee he expects him to be in the 90-percentile in their defensive charting. The Knicks chart every defensive possession and grade each player on whether he’s in the right spot.

“I take challenges on trying to get defensive stops,’’ Lee said. “[Friday] he [Hornacek] challenged me [that]. I need to be in the 90 percent on the defensive end. I locked into that and just focused on defense [Friday].’’

In 24 minutes versus the Wizards, Lee scored one point. Meanwhile, small forward Doug McDermott added 21 points in 23:41. However, McDermott is not known for his defense and could be used better as a sixth-man sniper.

Hornacek said the starting small forward role is not fixed forever. He will at times go with a bigger 3 against small forwards with size. But against Oklahoma City’s Anthony and Paul George, Hornacek appears to want to try a Lee-Hardaway Jr. tandem to start. Anthony and George are both perimeter players.

“I feel I can guard anybody if it makes sense,’’ Lee said. “We got to do what’s best for the team. If somebody’s starting at small forward that’s 6 [-foot-] 10 and starts posting me up, it only makes sense to get a bigger body on him. But if you put me on anybody, I’m going to fight him. I’m going to try to get the stop. That’s my job. Maybe I am blocking that 6-10 guy’s jump hook and I stay in.”

Asked if Lee can handle either Anthony or George, Hornacek said it goes both ways.

“They’re bigger small forwards, yes,’’ Hornacek said. “It could cause us problems, but you’ve got to weigh it. Does their size difference hurt us more than us, their bigger guy having to chase our guy? So you weigh a little bit of that.”

The Knicks waived point guard Trey Burke and hope he plays for the team’s G-League Westchester club where he can be evaluated further. Hornacek didn’t have enough time with Burke, who signed Wednesday. That means veteran Jarrett Jack, who looked slow, will take the 16th spot for the first 12 games as Joakim Noah serves his drug suspension.

“Trey was probably in a tough position there coming in at the last minute,’’ Hornacek said. “The other guys are able to show some stuff. We like Trey, what we can do.”… The Knicks finished preseason second-worst in offensive rating (91.5 points per 100 possessions) and worst in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Frank Ntilikina (bruised knee) was held from contact in Saturday’s practice, but is expected to have no restrictions when they return Monday. … Kristaps Porzingis, who played just 1 ¹/₂ preseason games, fully returned to practice and said he’ll be ready for Thursday.