Knicks' Carmelo Anthony Admits To Knee, Elbow Surgeries
NEW YORK (WFAN/AP) -- Knicks star Carmelo Anthony revealed on Sunday that he had offseason arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and a procedure on his right elbow.
The New York Post reported in June that Anthony was "secretly rehabbing" from elbow bursitis.
"Can't tell, can you?" Anthony asked after scoring 31 points and hauling in 17 rebounds in what was called the "Battle of I-95."
As for the knee pain, Carmelo said he's been dealing with that for quite some time.
"I did both of them," Anthony said. "They were bothering me (for) seven years."
But Anthony, LeBron James and Chris Paul couldn't lead their team back from a dreadful start, as Team Philly beat Melo's stars of Baltimore 131-122 on Sunday night at the Palestra.
"My body is feeling good," Anthony said after playing 48 minutes. "I'm down in weight. I would be coming back, if we had a training camp, weighing less than last year. So I'm feeling good, mentally, physically, I'm good."
With the NBA lockout now wiping out parts of the preseason and threatening to do more damage, Anthony helped put the game together along with his former Syracuse teammate, Hakim Warrick, and said there could be more.
"My mindset is I'll start next week. My body is trained, I'll start next week and that's where my mindset is at, that's where my body is at," Anthony said. "So games like this, it's fun. It's charity, but at the same time, we want to get something out of it."
Representatives from the NBA and players' association hope to meet again this week but the window is tight, with the union holding a regional meeting Tuesday in Miami and some negotiators on both sides unavailable after that during the Jewish holiday, making it even tougher to agree to a deal in time to salvage any of the preseason.
So players are forced to find ways to stay in shape without knowing when they will need to be ready for sure.
Without the lockout, they would be entering their final week of the offseason before reporting to camp. James, Anthony and Paul have done plenty of traveling, conducting clinics and taking part in community service projects, but it's unclear how much basketball they've been able to play.
"My main thing, we just got to stick together, as players we're sticking together," Anthony said, "and in the meantime keep doing stuff like this, keep having basketball games, keep playing, keep giving fans what they want. It's not everything that they want, because they want a season, but hey, it's something."
Knicks fans: Are you shocked by Melo's announcement? Sound off below...
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