Carmelo Anthony Shuts It Down For The Remainder Of The Season
Carmelo Anthony will undergo season-ending surgery on his left knee and could miss four to six months, Knicks president Phil Jackson said on Wednesday.
The team said on Wednesday that Anthony will undergo a left knee patella tendon debridement and repair procedure. He will be out four-to-six months, according to Jackson. Anthony previously underwent an arthroscopic procedure to his left knee in 2011. Anthony, the Knicks’ leading scorer, has been dealing with pain in his left knee for several months.
Anthony played for the Eastern Conference team in Sunday’s All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden, finishing with 30 game minutes and 14 points on 6-of-20 shooting.
The Knicks, who are 10-30 on the season in what has been a disappointing year as the team rebuilds under first-year head coach Derek Fisher, are 0-13 in games played this year without Anthony in the lineup.
Jackson and the Knicks front office will be evaluating their remaining roster for the remainder of the season while also scouting college talent. “The dance floor is now open,” Fisher said in regards to the opportunity that current Knicks players have.
Anthony was averaging 24.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game this season on 44 percent field goal shooting in his 12th NBA season. Cleanthony Early, his backup at the small forward position, is averaging 3.9 points and 1.7 rebounds per game in his rookie season.
Garnett to Minnesota?
The Minnesota Timberwolves are pushing for a last-minute deal that would bring Wolves legend Kevin Garnett back to the team in a trade that would send Thaddeus Young to Brooklyn.
Since Garnett possesses one of the NBA’s six full no-trade clauses, the deal would ultimately require Garnett’s approval.
The Timberwolves selected Garnett with the fifth overall pick in the 1995 NBA draft and had him for 12 seasons before trading him to the Boston Celtics in 2007. Garnett won a championship in his first season with the Celtics, while the Wolves have failed to even make the playoffs since he left.
Garnett, who has career averages of 18.3 points and 10.2 rebounds per game is currently averaging 6.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game in 20.3 game minutes.
UPDATE: Garnett’s agent confirmed the move on Thursday via a Twitter post.
Former Portland Trailblazers Star Passes Away At 52
Jerome Kersey, a forward with the Portland Trail Blazers for 11 seasons, died Wednesday. He was 52.
Kersey was a second-round draft pick in 1984, and a starter on Portland’s 1990 and 1992 NBA Finals teams, sharing the court with Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler, Kiki Vandeweghe and Terry Porter. Kersey played for five other NBA teams after leaving Portland, winning a championship with San Antonio in 1999. He retired from the NBA in 2001 after a season with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Kersey also coached in the NBA as an assistant with the Bucks under Porter in 2004-05, and was an assistant with Portland’s summer league team prior to that.
At the time of his retirement, Kersey ranked second on the Portland’s all-time list in games played (831) and rebounds (5,078), and third in blocked shots (621) and steals (1,059.) For his career, he averaged 10.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 1,153 game appearances.
Jrue Holiday Out Indefinitely
New Orleans Pelicans point guard Jrue Holiday is out indefinitely after re-aggravating a stress reaction in his lower leg that has kept him out of action since mid-January.
He will be reevaluated in three weeks.
The Pelicans had hoped that Holiday would return immediately after the All-Star break after missing New Orleans’ last 16 games.
The 24-year-old Holiday suffered a stress fracture in his right leg last season and ended up missing the final 48 games of the season. Tyreke Evans has moved from small forward to point guard during Holiday’s absence, and forward Dante Cunningham has joined the starting lineup.
Holiday is averaging 15.2 points and 7.1 assists per game this season for a Pelicans team that is currently 1.5 games back from the eight playoff seed in the Western Conference.
