The cornerstone of Knicks history — actually, its very foundation — is the result of one transaction consummated on the afternoon of Dec. 19, 1968. The Knicks shipped perennial All-Star Walt Bellamy and key backcourt ace Butch Komives to Detroit. 

The Pistons swapped Dave DeBusschere to New York. 

The immediate result was staggering: the Knicks won their first eight games with DeBusschere wearing No. 22 in orange and blue, and 14 of their first 15. The long-term ramifications were even greater: two championships the next five years, and a team that inspired more literature, some sublime, some otherwise, than even Shakespeare’s most proficient muse. 

And as glorious as what happened eventually was … it was what happened immediately that both hatched and eternalized the legend of the greatest trade in Knicks history, one that sits only alongside Babe Ruth for a bucket of cash as the single greatest transaction in New York sports history. 

“His influence has been immediate and it has been undeniable,” Red Holzman told The Post’s Leonard Lewin 10 games into DeBusschere’s tenure with the Knicks. 

Said Clyde Frazier: “We’re a whole team now.” 

(DISCLAIMER: What follows should IN NO WAY be interpreted as an argument that Josh Hart is Dave DeBusschere. Let’s get that out of the way here, and repeat it for extra emphasis: Josh Hart IS NOT Dave DeBusschere.) 

OK. 

That said? 

Josh Hart’s influence on the 2022-23 Knicks has been immediate and it has been undeniable. 

But what’s most important about this is that it is a reminder that chemistry — so often overlooked, or just plain ignored, when assembling the fundamentals of crafting a good basketball team — is still real, still important, and still an essential building block in the transformation of an organization. 

“These guys like each other,” Tom Thibodeau said the other day, “and they really enjoy playing together.” 

A coach will insist on that even if the evidence screams otherwise, the way Steve Nash used to channel Kevin Bacon — “Remain calm! All is well!” — whenever it was obvious that Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and/or James Harden would look like they’d rather be getting a tooth extracted than play basketball with each other. 

In the Knicks’ case it happens to be true. They are 3-0 with Hart in the fold, and it isn’t that he’s done anything extraordinary, he’s simply taken about 25 seconds to fit in, accept his role and get to work. It helps that guys like Quentin Grimes — whose minutes have been reduced — and Deuce McBride — whose minutes have disappeared — have merrily agreed that’s what’s best for the team is best for everyone. It also helps that the Knicks’ chief chemist is Jalen Brunson, having his finest season. 

It is a good time for this to happen for the Knicks, even if it feels like the worst possible time for them to have a nine-day pause since they’re playing as well as they have in years, two years ago inclusive, and are a season-high six games over .500 at the All-Star break, sitting percentage-points clear of Miami in the No. 6 hole in the East. 

It will be better if this all carries over to Feb. 24, when the Knicks begin their 22-game push to the playoffs, 13 of those games coming against teams presently in postseason position, their .512 strength-of-schedule opponents’ winning percentage the seventh-toughest in the NBA. The Hart deal in no way lets the Knicks vault into the deepest end of the pool the way the DeBusschere trade almost 55 years ago did. 

But before the trade, the Knicks looked, across every second of this season, like a stoutly .500 team. No matter if they were four over .500 or five under, you looked at them every night and two numbers were impossible to shake. 

Forty-one. And 41. 

Now? Sixth seems plausible — and in truth, with the Nets a complete mystery right now, so does fifth (though the Nets are still three up in the loss column). Last year’s No. 5 seed, Toronto, won 48 games. Can the Knicks go 15-7 down the stretch and get there, which would be their highest win total in 10 years? 

Maybe even that’s a stretch. But if what we’ve seen against Utah, Brooklyn and Atlanta the last three games is real — and it feels real — why shouldn’t the Knicks feel they can get to 48? They are playing, and looking, like a different team now. 

They’re a whole team now. Flawed, yes. Out of the realm of contenders? Sure. 

But whole. And when’s the last time you could say that?