Consider it a Christmas present — the Knicks may be about to get Amar’e Stoudemire back.

The question is will this gift be a lump of coal.

He’s been recovering from knee surgery and there have been hints he is getting close to getting back on the court, then comes this tweet from Marc Berman of the New York Post.

Stoudemire could be cleared for first practice tomorrow. — Marc Berman (@NYPost_Berman) December 17, 2012

Even if it’s not Tuesday, it’s probably soon. A return to practice likely means a week or two until he is playing again in games. It is expected that Stoudemire would be coming off the bench, at least at first. Which makes sense, the Knicks are 18-5 with this basic starting rotation.

Stoudemire averaged 17.5 points and 7.8 rebounds a game last season while shooting 48.3 percent. All of that was down some from the season before but his numbers weren’t the problem.

The problem was when Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler were all on the floor together the Knicks offense was terrible. Just abysmal. Of course, Mike Woodson would like you to know the Knicks were 8-2 when ‘Melo and Amare played together under him last season, and that he thinks this can work out.

We’ll see. At some point if the Knicks really want to be a threat to the Heat in the East in the playoffs (those big early season wins will be moot come the playoffs) they will need Stoudemire and Anthony to click. If the result of the return is Stoudemire at the four close to the basket and Anthony at the three jacking up contested 20 footers — and we saw a lot of that — it’s not going to work. Then the Christmas present is a lump of coal.

The Knicks have a lot of the season to get this flowing. But adding a major component to a team already playing well can have unpredictable results.