The New York Knicks announced Wednesday that their leading scorer and rebounder, Carmelo Anthony, will be having season-ending left knee surgery. In a statement released by the team, the All-Star forward will be having a procedure that includes left knee patella tendon debridement and repair.

The announcement comes just three days after Anthony completed his unofficial duties as All-Star Weekend ambassador in New York, where he scored 14 points in over 30 minutes in the 64th annual All-Star Game.

The Knicks are 0-13 this season since Anthony hasn't played, and have the worst record in the NBA at 10-43.

"We're finding out from medical, on-court, it could be 4-6 months," said Knicks president Phil Jackson when asked about his franchise player's potential recovery time.

Team orthopedist Answorth Allen will be performing the procedure on the 12-year NBA veteran.

The decision to have the surgery at this point of the season boosts the Knicks' chances of getting a high lottery pick. They also released Amare Stoudemire earlier in the week, freeing cap space, and furthering their bid to sign a top-flight free agent in the offseason.

It has been an incredibly disappointing season for the Knicks, who had high hopes after naming Jackson as president of basketball operations before this season. Jackson also brought in Derek Fisher, who played major minutes for the Oklahoma City Thunder in last year's playoffs, to help instill the principles of the triangle offense.

Jackson has admitted in an interview that his experiment with the Knicks has fallen "flat on its face."

Anthony, 30, is an eight-time NBA All-Star, and was a key player in Team USA's Olympic gold medal winning campaigns in 2008 and 2012.

He was the NBA's leading scorer two seasons ago, the same one where he led the Knicks to their first playoff series win since 2000.