Trey Burke scored 42 points in a game for the Knicks. In 2018. Really!

Trey Burke couldn’t have picked a worse night for his career performance, a 42-point and 12-assist showing on Monday that fell just short of carrying the New York Knicks to a victory. With the whole world watching Markelle Fultz’s return from his bizarre shoulder injury, it would have been easy to believe the Knicks fabricated the entire box score to play a cruel prank on us.

It most certainly was not a prank, though, something the Charlotte Hornets learned firsthand. They still won, but it took overtime to dispatch the Knicks in a 137-128 game. That can be almost solely attributed to Burke, who undoubtedly had the game of his NBA life.

It might be best to just answer all your questions.

He shot 19-of-31 from the field, and most of them came from the mid-range, where Burke was money all day. Only three of his makes were from behind the arc, and he actually only attempted one free throw all night.

Oh, no clue. Burke was an OK scorer his first few years with the Utah Jazz, then flopped in Washington and looked destined to be out of the league. I never would have predicted he would drop a 40-piece at any point in the NBA.

Emmanuel Mudiay was out sick, and Frank Ntilikina is still coming off the bench for New York. In fact, Frankie Smokes would have likely played more in this game, but he got into early foul trouble and eventually fouled out completely. So that left Burke handling a lion’s share of the point guard duties.

Yeah. It’s really throwing me off, too.

That’s Burke on the left, I swear.

This is a very Iverson-esque move, yes.

That’s not from the Charlotte game, but you probably already watched those highlights at the top of the post. There are some very Iverson-esque moves from that game, too. Iverson loved the crossover mid-range pull-up, of course, and Burke has been destroying teams with it.

OK, I doubt anyone is actually thinking this, so I’m obviously exaggerating my role as the omniscient question-asking man.

But no, Burke is not Iverson, and he actually has more flaws than he has perks.

For example, Burke is currently making 1.9 jump shots per game from the 16-to-24 foot range, and shooting 59.1 percent from there. Only two players are making more shots per game from that area this season: Klay Thompson and Victor Oladipo. Thompson — arguably the best shooter in the game — is only shooting 51.2 percent on those shots. Given Burke’s volume and the difficulty of those shots, it’s guaranteed those numbers will fall.

Burke’s overall efficiency should be incredible given his killer mid-range shooting right now, but he only has a 58.1 True Shooting Percentage, which is merely above-average. That’s because he doesn’t take many three-pointers, despite shooting them well, and doesn’t get to the line much. Burke also doesn’t get to the rim much, either — just 14 percent of his shot attempts come within three feet of the basket.

No! This wasn’t to say Burke is a bad player.

But those stats should make you realize he’s not suddenly the new future of the Knicks, or anything like that. His play of late has been unbelievable, but it has been propped up by some factors that seem pretty unsustainable.

Or maybe he turned into a Thompson-level shooter overnight and will average 35 points next year. Could be either one. Who’s to say?

Burke’s still a very cool story, even if that mid-range jumper is bound to cool off. He voluntarily signed with a G-League team this season so he could get better as a point guard, since the NBA offers that were available didn’t promise him any minutes. Clearly, that seemed to have worked.

It’s safe to say he has revitalized his NBA career for at least another year or two. As long as your expectations are measured, Burke seems like a useful backup point guard with a knack for scoring outbursts, and his improved playmaking skills should allow him to remain a player worth putting on the floor even if the shot isn’t falling.