Reuters/New York

New York Knicks leading scorer Carmelo Anthony will have season-ending surgery on his left knee, the last-placed NBA team said on Wednesday.
The eight-time All-Star forward will have a patella-tendon debridement and repair to remove damaged and dead tissue that has been bothering him since the second game of the season, the Knicks said in a statement. Anthony, whose recovery is expected to take from four to six months, will miss New York’s final 29 games.
Playing his first season of a five-year, $124 million contract, Anthony was averaging 24.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 40 games.
Anthony has been in and out of the Knicks lineup due to his knee, although he suited up and played in Sunday’s All-Star Game on his home court at Madison Square Garden.
Knicks president Phil Jackson said the team had cleared Anthony to play in the All-Star Game.
“We know it was type of surgery that is corrective, and he could play on it,” Jackson said. “He could tweak it as he has a number of times this year. It causes discomfort and inability to play at times. We felt comfortable with him playing in the All-Star Game.”
The Knicks (10-43) have gone 0-13 this season when Anthony sits out.   

Mavericks sign Stoudemire to boost playoff bid
Amare Stoudemire signed with the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday, giving the NBA club a front-line boost with a six-time All-Star as it fights for a playoff berth.
The move came two days after the New York Knicks, with the NBA’s worst record of 10-43, released Stoudemire to give the playmaker a chance to join a title contender and boost their future funds under NBA salary cap rules.
The Mavericks are 36-19, fifth in the Western Conference but in the middle of a pack of clubs battling for the third through seventh seeding spots over the final two months of the season.
“I’m excited to be a part of a first-class organization,” Stoudemire said. “To play alongside Dirk Nowitzki, Tyson Chandler and other great players, I think it’s a tremendous opportunity for me to compete for a championship.”
Stoudemire, 32, averaged 12.0 points and 6.8 rebounds in 36 games this season with the Knicks, who bought out the remainder of the $100 million, five-year deal he signed in 2010.
Stoudemire, who spent eight seasons with Phoenix after being selected by the Suns with the ninth overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, has averaged 20.0 points and 8.2 rebounds in 771 career NBA games.