DENVER – Jalen Brunson has played 440 NBA games and 162 for the Knicks, but this was the best dishing night of his career.

The All-Star point guard recorded a career-high 17 assists and helped the Knicks to a franchise record 45 in a 145-118 victory over the Nuggets on Monday.

“It’s great for me to reach this career high, but it’s a credit to (my teammates),” said Brunson, who also scored 23 points. “Everyone in this locker room works really hard. They put a lot into their game. I mean, without them, this literally wouldn’t be possible.”

When told that former Villanova teammate and podcast co-host Josh Hart said the 17-assist night was “probably something you’ll never see again,” Brunson replied, “Yeah, Josh is funny.” I “I would have had more if I hadn’t passed the ball to him.”

Brunson became the first Knick since Nate Robinson in the 2008-09 season to score at least 20 points and 15 assists in the same game.

“I thought Jalen had an incredible game on the floor,” Tom Thibodeau said.

Precious Achiuwa and Mitchell Robinson joined the Knicks on their five-game road trip, and the first of those two injured big men appears to be close to a return to the lineup.

Achiuwa, sidelined since suffering a hamstring injury late in the preseason, has been cleared for contact and could make his season debut soon, although he likely won’t yet take part in the trip, which ends with stops in Dallas (Wednesday) and Charlotte (Friday ).

“Precious pretty much does everything now,” Thibodeau said before the game. “He made contact. He’s on to the next step. He comes closer.

“And Mitch, just by his presence, obviously hasn’t been given permission to do anything other than the rehab part of it. But it’s also nice to see that he’s making good progress. He’s not as close as Precious, but we’re very happy with both guys.”

Robinson is expected to be out until at least December or January after undergoing surgery on his left ankle in May.

Asked if he thinks Achiuwa will play on the road trip, Thibodeau added: “No. He’s not quite there yet. We just want to be patient. We don’t want this to happen again. Let him get through this and when he’s ready, he’ll be ready.”

Miles McBride returned to the lineup after missing five games with knee problems and scored 13 points in 27 minutes.