What is the market value for point guard Jeremy Lin? Knicks general manager Glen Grunwald can’t wait to find out now that Lin officially has his early Bird rights after the NBA dropped its appeal last night.

According to people familiar with the Knicks’ strategy, Grunwald will be patient in the Lin negotiations and allow the market to set Lin’s price tag. Because Grunwald can match any offer, he can sit back and wait.

Lin becomes a free agent tomorrow at 12:01 a.m. and Grunwald can offer him a maximum four-year deal starting at $5.5 million with 7 percent raises — a package worth $24.5 million.

Don’t expect it. Grunwald will see if Lin gets an offer in that neighborhood as the first full-fledged, free-agent period since the lockout plays itself out.

“This new circumstance of the new collective bargaining agreement,I’m not sure how teams are going to operate, how agents are going to operate,’’ Grunwald said. “Are people going to wait and see? I’m not certain how it will play out.’’

With the Knicks failing to land a piece for next season in this week’s draft, Grunwald will make his mark in free agency and it starts with the plan to re-sign his four big free agents — Lin, Landry Fields, Steve Novak and J.R. Smith.

Now that the Bird rights situation is resolved, Grunwald should accomplish his goal. He also will have a mid-level exception to wield, though he said it “likely’’ will be the taxpayers’ $3 million exception and not the $5 million for non-taxpayers. That diminishes any realistic chance of adding Steve Nash or even shooting guard O.J. Mayo.

“We want to keep both [Lin and Novak] and keep Landry and J.R.,’’ Grunwald said. “Those are four free-agents we want to keep“They’re all valuable players.We’re going to try to keep all four of them. “We have some [recruiting] plans. We’ve been in contact with our own free agents. They’ve expressed their desire to come back. They know we love them and want them. We’ll do the negotiating and hopefully it all works out’’

The Knicks only can offer Smith a 20 percent raise, to $2.85 million. Smith wants to re-sign a one-year deal and be in position to have his full Bird rights next summer. Unless another team wows him with a long-term package well in excess of $3 million annually, Smith is likely to re-sign.

Novak, their 3-point ace, could command at least $3 million per season on the open market. Fields, after a modest second year in which he averaged 8.8 points, could command in the $2 million to $3 million range.

Lin is the biggest mystery, which is why he added powerful agent Jim Tanner.. His marketing appeal is unquestioned, but he’s only proven to be a legit starting point guard across a 26-game stretch in his second season. He hasn’t played since undergoing left-knee surgery, missing the final 17 regular-season games and the entire playoffs. Plus, a team may not want to waste time with Lin since the Knicks have been vocal about matching any offers.

“We have the ability to keep him because he’s restricted,’’ Grunwald said. “We can match any offer he receives. I would anticipate doing that .f he did get an offer. Hopefully we’ll be able reach a mutually agreeable resolution [before that]’’

The only fly in the ointment is whether Toronto abandons its all-out pursuit of Nash and turns to Lin, the NBA’s first Chinese-American. Toronto has the league’s largest Asian community.

The Raptors can offer Lin a maximum $5 million in each of the first two years, then balloon to a maximum $15 million in the third year in what’s known as a back-loaded offer. Or poison pill. That would destroy the Knicks from a luxury-tax standpoint.

Grunwald is trying not to overpay as the Knicks veer into the newly severe luxury-tax territory if they sign all four free agents at substantial numbers.

The Knicks desperately need veteran backcourt help and with their $3 million mid-level exception should be in the mix for point guards Jason Kidd, Andre Miller, Raymond Felton, Jameer Nelson and shooting guard Ray Allen.

They also have veteran Spanish League point guard Pablo Prigioni, who visited two weeks ago, on their radar. The Knicks only have one guard under contract, Toney Douglas. Grunwald said he is looking for “experience.’’

“The guard position is something obviously we have to address,’’ Grunwald said. “Hopefully, we’ll deal with our own free agents but when you look at our roster, the holes are there. ’’