With Stoudemire's buyout earlier this week, things couldn't have been worse for the New York Knicks. However, more bad news came when on February 18, the team's leading player Carmelo Anthony announced that he will be out for the rest of the season due to surgery.

Anthony's surgery is for a "patella tendon debridement and repair" on his left knee. These complications have been occurring on and off since Anthony injured his knee in the second game of the season. Anthony has also had past problems with his knees back in 2011 when he had an arthroscopic procedure and a drain on his right knee in 2013.

Thinking the surgery would only put him out for about eight weeks, team president Phil Jackson later told sources that Anthony's recovery time is looking more like four to six months. However, Jackson isn't ready to discuss specifics just yet. "We can't put it at a timetable until after the surgery," he said. "But that's what they're saying."

Anthony was seen on Sunday playing in the NBA's All-Star game at Madison Square Garden for 30 minutes. He ended up scoring 14 points on 6-of-20 shooting for the Eastern Conference, according to ESPN.

Head couch for the Knicks, Derek Fisher, said of Anthony's surgery, "And it's obvious that he physically can't do the things he's capable of doing, so this is a necessary step for him to take in order to get to the level he's capable of getting to. This is what needs to be done and, timing wise, there no better time to go and get it done."