The diagnosis is wear and tear on a tendon in Carmelo Anthony's left knee, but it's now more than apparent that the Knicks' star is suffering from something else.
He's got a condition of the mind that manifests itself in revisionist thinking, and it involves his former teammate, Amare Stoudemire.
As Stoudemire prepares to pick up and move to Dallas, where he will try to win a title this spring, Anthony will finally get the operation he should have had weeks ago. But you know 'Melo. There was no way he'd ever miss All-Star weekend. He would have played on crutches if he had to.
During the big event, you saw it in his face, even when he was moving around like a wounded warrior as his fellow stars galloped freely on the Garden's specially-designed court. He was smiling widely, beaming more than the night in Boston in 2013 when he finally got the Knicks into the second round of the playoffs.
The only thing that marred his evening on Sunday was that he couldn't perform like the All-Star Game MVP Russell Westbrook, who came within a point of tying Wilt Chamberlain’s All-Star Game scoring record of 42 points.
Anthony, the only player on the East team to fail to register an assist, on a night when his team scored 158 points, shot poorly and showed Bill Clinton and all the other celebs that he needs surgery.
As for 'Melo’s revisionist thinking, that was on full display when he had to address the news in the post-game press conference that the Knicks had reached a buyout with Stoudemire. Talk about a buzz kill. All the joy of the weekend was gone.
It was the first topic out of the box when he sat down at the podium in the interview room. His reaction was classic 'Melo, who is always about 'Melo, first and foremost.
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"Man, that’s the first question?" he said. "You ain't going to ask me about the weekend?"
The questions about Stoudemire revealed his revisionist thinking.
"Knowing that I'm losing a friend, a teammate, a guy who I wanted to come to the city and play with," Anthony said. "One of the main reasons why I'm a New York Knick today was because of him."
Please.
Anthony forced his way out of Denver and to the Knicks on Feb. 21, 2011, because he wanted to be the King of New York. His quest to come to the league's No. 1 media market and to make the bright lights of Broadway his personal basketball court had nothing to do with Stoudemire, who had shown up the summer before, running to New York for his fully-guaranteed $100-million deal, and had played like an MVP before 'Melo’s arrival.
Even then, Anthony yearned to be King of New York, a title Stoudemire had in his first 54 games he played in town. But with his buddy and former team president, Isiah Thomas, advising him that two scoring stars were better than one, Garden chairman James Dolan engineered the deal for Anthony and that was that. Anthony was the new boss and it's been that way ever since.
Anthony and Stoudemire never meshed, but of course it was doomed to fail since both need to be the man. They could never co-exist on the court. It was always a clumsy pairing, no matter if it was Mike D'Antoni, Mike Woodson or Derek Fisher who drew up the complicated X's and O's.
Now as Stoudemire goes to Dallas to be a backup for All-Star Dirk Nowitzki, here’s the bottom line on the grand Anthony-Stoudemire pairing: When they played together, the Knicks were 44 games under .500 (70-114), including their 2-10 playoff record.
So the Knicks have moved on and Phil Jackson now has a wish-list of talented free agents for this coming summer, some of whom Jackson watched on Sunday in the Garden.
But there’s a cautionary tale for those players and others to remember when they consider pairing up with Anthony, who isn't going anywhere, not with four years left on his $124-million deal and a no-trade clause to keep him entrenched in the Garden.
Go ask Stoudemire: Aside from all the money he made in New York, how did it really work out?
Longtime New York columnist Mitch Lawrence continues to write about pro basketball, as he’s done for the last 22 years. His columns for NBCNewYork.com on the Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and the NBA, along with other major sports, will appear twice weekly. Follow him on Twitter @Mitch _ Lawrence.
