Painfully for the Knicks, Phoenix’s instincts on Stoudemire were prophetic. Nothing short of a basketball miracle can change the defining portrayal of him as a savior gone sour, as the beneficiary of a contract the Knicks would love to dispose of sooner (this summer) rather than later (the summer of 2015).

But there is also a heartening and even inspirational component to Stoudemire’s odyssey as the Knicks cling to their playoff hopes and while he, at 31, precariously hangs on to the perception of professional relevance. Those desperate pursuits are conjoined by the Knicks’ crying need for Stoudemire to continue contributing as he has since re-entering the starting lineup this month.

The numbers — an average of 17 points and 6 rebounds in 11 games he has started — pale compared with what he was once capable of and what he delivered for the Knicks before they brought Carmelo Anthony into his life.

That is not the point. The minutes he has averaged (28.3) during a late-season run that has kept the Knicks on the margins of the playoff race tell the story of a man whose pride has at times seemed greater than his team’s.

“He could’ve given up at any time with his health issues, and he hasn’t,” Mike D’Antoni, who coached Stoudemire in Phoenix and New York, said Tuesday night before his Lakers thrashed the Knicks in Los Angeles.

The operations and setbacks have blurred over time. In his first postseason with the Knicks, Stoudemire hurt his back during a pregame dunk. The next spring, he lacerated his hand by punching the glass casing of a fire extinguisher after a playoff defeat in Miami.

He obviously has not always made life easier. But he has never walked away from the challenge of getting back on the floor when — certainly by the end of last season — the consensus was that he was all but done.