Carmelo Anthony Could Be Shut Down For Season

The Knicks have been so disastrously bad and Carmelo Anthony’s knee has been so bothersome that coach Derek Fisher acknowledged that Melo could eventually be shut down for the season. Before the Knicks lost 97-81 to the Pistons on Friday—their 10th straight loss and 30th of the season—Fisher had this to say, per ESPN:

With the Knicks in the midst of a throwaway season, coach Derek Fisher has acknowledged the possibility that Carmelo Anthony might eventually sit out the remainder of the campaign due to a knee injury.

 

Anthony has been playing with soreness in his left knee since the second game of the season.

 

“From the conversations I’ve been a part of, I think everybody is smart enough to realize, calendar wise, timing wise, that there may come a point that that’s the decision that needs to be made,” Fisher said Friday. “But [we realize] that we can’t force Carmelo to that point just yet.”

 

“I think everybody is smart enough to realize, calendar wise, timing wise, that there may come a point that that’s the decision that needs to be made,” coach Derek Fisher said of Carmelo Anthony possibly shutting it down for the season.

 

Fisher reiterated Friday that any decision to shut down Anthony for the season would be made with input from both Anthony and the Knicks organization.

 

“We can’t unilaterally just say, ‘Hey, you know, you can’t play for the rest of the season because of A, B and C,'” Fisher said. “I think our medical staff, our training staff, continue to have conversations with him about where he is. He’s conversing with us about how he’s feeling, what the symptoms are. And so as each day kind of unfolds, decisions are being made. It’s not something that we’re just kind of stepping back and saying, ‘Carmelo, you kind of tell us when you don’t feel like playing anymore.'”