LAS VEGAS — Patrick Ewing had to leave to scratch his itch. 

In an interview with The Post on Sunday, the Hall of Famer revealed he joined the Wizards as an assistant because of a golden opportunity to get back to coaching.

It’s a chance that wasn’t available with the Knicks after Ewing spent two seasons as their basketball ambassador. 

“I take my hat off to the Knicks. Both Leon [Rose] and World Wide Wes and Mr. [James] Dolan have done a great job in terms of what they’ve done in making all of us feel like we’re all a part of everything that’s going on,” Ewing said. “But their [assistant] bench was already stacked. So I think they have some great guys there. I enjoyed being around them, learning from them, picking their brains. So there was not an opportunity there for me. And one was here.”