Despite affording him a five-year, $124 million contract last summer, the New York Knicks don’t own Carmelo Anthony. Why not publicly support his somewhat confounding choice to suit up for Team USA next month, right?
After word broke earlier this week that their superstar forward has elected to participate in August’s USA Basketball minicamp, the Knicks reportedly told the New York Daily News’ Mitch Abramson they are “OK” with his decision.
In a sign that Carmelo Anthony should be ready for the start of training camp, the Knicks’ $124 million man plans to attend a USA Basketball minicamp in Las Vegas from Aug. 11-13 as part of the build-up for the 2016 Summer Games in Brazil… The Knicks told the Daily News in an email on Friday they are OK with his involvement in the minicamp.
Anthony played a career-low 40 games in 2014-2015 due to nagging left knee pain that eventually sidelined him for good immediately following All-Star weekend in New York City. He had surgery to repair his left patella tendon on February 19, and was originally given a 4-6 month schedule for full recovery.
Considering Anthony has yet to perform strenuous on-court activity since undergoing the procedure, the safest course of action would be to avoid any of it until Knicks training camp begins in September. He’s firmly on the downside of his career at 31-years-old, after all, and New York’s hopes of respectability in an improved Eastern Conference stem from his performance as much as anything else.
Fortunately for the Knicks, Anthony’s chances of re-injury with Team USA appear to be low. Not only did program managing director Jerry Colangelo recently say the minicamp would serve as more of a “reunion” for national team members than a competitive tryout, but Anthony won’t be a “fully active participant” in the somewhat casual proceedings, either.
Bottom line: ‘Melo gets to hang with his USAB brethren, and New York has no major reason to fear a setback in his recovery. Win-win.
[Via New York Daily News]
