JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Kristaps Porzingis turned just 22 today and already seems far more wiser than that age suggests, which is what an experience in New York will do a person.

He’ll be the youngest player in the NBA Africa Game here Saturday, where he’ll look to do his part to spread goodwill. Even more important, he’s anxious to do the same next season with the Knicks.

“So far it’s been tough in New York, but my journey is only beginning and I hope to stay there my whole career, so as a city we can have some fun and win some games and do something big,” he said.

“For me, it’s now home.”

That’s the most refreshing and reassuring news to hit this summer for a franchise rocked by a front-office earthquake and the ongoing drama swirling around Carmelo Anthony's will-he or won’t-he get traded chatter. Caught in the vortex is Porzingis, who’s the foundation of the franchise and its hope for the future.

Porzingis was clearly unhappy with a losing season and the culture that caused it as the Knicks, all would agree, were backsliding. He skipped his post-season meeting with then-president Phil Jackson, which sent a red alert through the franchise, and headed home to Latvia to refocus his mind and reconfigure his body. He hasn’t spoken publicly about the Knicks ever since, until he arrived here today.

Before the 2017 Draft, Phil Jackson said the Knicks were listening to trade offers for Kristaps Porzingis.

And now? Porzingis seems willing to give the Knicks the benefit of the doubt after Jackson was fired and replaced by Scott Perry. Suddenly, the Knicks have a new voice and a new philosophy, having been freed from Jackson’s stubborn insistence in using the triangle offense, which wasn’t embraced by the locker room.