New York Knicks discuss shutting down Carmelo Anthony

New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony has been playing through a painful left knee injury all season. The question is: How much pain must he endure before the Knicks, 5-30, tell their superstar to forget about 2014-15?

Anthony’s knee injury will likely require sugery once the season is over, and with the Knicks tied for the second-worst record overall in the NBA, their season is essentially over.

“There’s a balance between a player and his health and the part that he plays in the decision-making process and then where we are as a team and giving our thoughts and our opinion to it,” first-year Coach Derek Fisher told the New York Daily News. “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.’ I think our medical staff, our training staff, continue to have conversations with him about where he is.”

The Knicks have struggled to implement the triangle offense under Fisher while dealing with a rotation limited by injury, and are averaging the second fewest points per game (93.7). On the other side of the ball, New York is giving up 101.2 points to their opponents.

Anthony, a seven-time NBA All-Star and former scoring champion, is putting up 23.9 points with 6.6 rebounds per game after re-signing with the Knicks on a five-year, $124-million contract in the offseason.

“It’s tough. Some days you’re able to do some things, some days you’re not,” Anthony told ESPN earlier this week. “Some days it’s tough to even run around and cut and jump. And then other days I come in and I don’t really feel it.

“I’m playing because I love to play and I want to play. I know what I can tolerate and what I can’t tolerate. The games I feel like I can’t tolerate it, I’m not going to play.”

Follow Matt Wilhalme on Twitter @mattwilhalme