Just when you thought we were finally done watching Isiah Thomas mess up the Knicks with his baffling personnel moves, along comes another opportunity for him to do something stupid. And of course, he’s seizing the moment.

Nobody likes to make a big, splashy move more than Thomas does, even if it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever for his basketball team. So, few were surprised when the Knicks got in on the bidding on Chris Webber after the Philadelphia 76ers bought out his contract yesterday.

Webber was one of the best players of the past decade, but his effectiveness has shriveled in the past two seasons — pretty much starting the day Sacramento dumped him and his $20 million–plus annual salary on the pathetic Sixers. This year he’s limping along — literally — with a 38.7% shooting average, and while his 14.1 PER (Player Efficiency Rating, my perminute rating of a player’s statistical effectiveness) was near the league average of 15.0, his gimpy leg made him perhaps the worst front-court defender in the NBA.

Webber’s struggles made a contract buyout a no-brainer for the struggling Sixers, who have no need for a highly paid, hobbled veteran forward as they rebuild. Additionally, the buyout saved the team several million dollars, both in salary foregone by Webber and in luxury tax payments.

But one man’s trash is another’s treasure. With owner James Dolan no longer allowing him to spend like a drunken sailor, Thomas has to target opportunities like Webber’s newfound availability in order to satisfy his craving for making front-page news.

Thus, Isiah wants to take a chance on the 33-year-old ex-star, an apt move in a long-running Knicks pattern of chasing after big-name players on the downside of their careers. This move at least won’t cost a lot — New York can’t offer more than its biannual exception of $1.67 million per year.

But it would be particularly silly for New York because two of its best young players play the same position. A second-year pro, David Lee, has been the Knicks’ best player this season, while fellow soph, Channing Frye, showed incredible promise as a rookie and has improved his output of late. Both would lose substantial playing time if Isiah were to try squeezing Webber into the mix.

Fortunately, Webber seems to have targeted other locales for his next destination. His stated desire is to play a major role on a championship team, even though he’s probably going to have to choose between one and the other; Webber is no longer good enough to play major minutes for a contender. Nonetheless, he reportedly has five destinations on the tip of his tongue: Miami, Detroit, Dallas, San Antonio, and the L.A. Lakers.

However, as we’ll see, each of these five destinations has some major problems, which means the Knicks might not be out of the mix:

• The Heat could use Webber as a third big man to join Udonis Haslem and Alonzo Mourning until Shaquille O’Neal returns to the lineup. However, the pairing of Webber and a recuperating Shaq would create one of the slowest frontcourts in history, and Webber would also lose minutes to the likes of Michael Doleac and the reinstated Antoine Walker. Moreover, Pat Riley has never been fond of role players who can’t defend.

• Detroit is supposedly very interested in Webber, but has already used both its biannual exception (Flip Murray) and midlevel exception (Nazr Mohammed), meaning Webber could only sign for the veteran’s minimum of $1 million a year. Besides, the Pistons have four big men — Mohammed, Rasheed Wallace, Jason Maxiell, and Antonio McDyess — who are clearly better.

• Dallas presents a clear obstacle to playing time in the form of Dirk Nowitzki, as well as in Avery Johnson, a defense-first coach who is unlikely to live happily with Webber’s defensive limitations. Also, Dallas would incur luxury tax if it signed Webber, costing them twice as much as any other team.

• San Antonio has several big men who are at least as effective as the power forward, and the Spurs place incredible defensive demands on their frontcourt players, which Webber couldn’t possibly satisfy. As with Dallas, there are luxury tax issues, although the Spurs could work around them with a follow-up trade.

•The Lakers are perhaps the most realistic destination, as the triangle offense could best take advantage of his high-post skills, and L.A.’s defensive system doesn’t require its big men to be particularly mobile. However, as with Detroit, the Lakers could only offer the veteran’s minimum because the team used its other exceptions to sign Vladimir Radmanovic and Shammond Williams.

Considering these options, is the possibility of Webber signing with the Knicks really that far-fetched? New York can offer more money than any club except Miami, and Isiah might be deranged enough to offer him more playing time.

But if Webber is willing to lower his sights a little bit, two destinations seem much more reasonable. The first is Milwaukee, where Webber would be helping a smallmarket team vie for the no. 8 seed rather than play for a championship ring. But there he would unquestionably make the greatest on-court impact. The Bucks play tons of zone defense, so Webber’s limitations would be less of a problem, and his offensive talents could give a big boost to a club that’s been ravaged by injuries.

A second option may make even more sense, though, especially if Webber is feeling nostalgic. That team is Orlando, which originally drafted Webber in 1993 before trading him to Golden State on draft day for Penny Hardaway. Neither side has spoken with much enthusiasm about a reunion, but to my eye, of all the playoff teams out there, this one, with the second-best record in its conference, makes the most sense as a destination.

The one destination that doesn’t make sense, however you look at it, is the Knicks. One can only hope that either Isiah or Webber will realize it in the coming days. If not, ‘Bockers fans will have to suffer through one more horrible mistake in the name of getting Isiah’s picture in the paper.

jhollinger@nysun.com