Carmelo Anthony on short list to replace Kevin Love in All-Star Game
Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks and Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers look for a rebound during the second quarter at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Carmelo Anthony may be on the short list to replace Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love in this weekend’s NBA All-Star Game, but he says he would have to ask his family before accepting such an invitation.
“I would really like to kind of just utilize this break now that I already put in my mind that I wasn’t going,” Anthony said after practice Tuesday. “I can use this break physically. Mentally, I think I can use this break.”
Kristaps Porzingis could also be in contention to replace Love, who is slated to miss the next six weeks after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on Tuesday. Among Eastern Conference frontcourt players who didn’t make the All-Star roster, Porzingis finished in a tie for second in media voting and first in player voting. Anthony finished one place higher than Porzingis in the fan vote.
“It’d be great if one of those two guys got in there,” Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek. “Obviously every year you look at it (how) some guys probably should be in it that aren’t. There are limited amounts of spots. Our guys didn’t get in it this year. But I think both of them were right there. Obviously it should probably be one of those two guys.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
