For the first time in a long time, the New York Knicks actually have a future to be excited about. Yes, they just fired their head coach, but they have a young budding star in Kristaps Porzingis and a proven go-to scorer in Carmelo Anthony for years to come. Anthony, though, has dealt with knee pain all year that has caused him to miss some time, and the Knicks are concerned about his long-term health, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. 

Anthony underwent knee surgery after the All-Star break last year, and it forced him to miss the last couple of months of the season. This year Anthony has been able to play for the most part, but he has missed games here and there, and even when he is on the court he hasn't exactly looked like himself. Anthony is shooting just 42 percent from the field and 32 percent from three on the season, and recently his numbers have been much worse than that. 

The report states that Anthony has had two MRIs in the past three weeks on the knee to make sure everything is still OK. The two MRIs reportedly came back clean, but Isola writes "the concern over his long-term health is very real." Anthony is now 31 years old and has played more than 32,000 minutes in his career, so this may just be the reality of his situation, but the Knicks need him as healthy as possible moving forward this year and beyond. 

After the Knicks' loss to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, Anthony said that his knee wasn't all that sore because he took the last game off and had some extra time to rest it. Anthony believes the soreness will likely continue and that he may need to rest more often in order to limit the soreness, according to Ian Begley of ESPN New York. 

The Knicks' new interim head coach Kurt Rambis said he expects the team to make the playoffs this year, but a lot of that depends on Anthony's knee. The 13-year veteran's health is a big-time question mark moving forward for the Knicks, and that could have a major impact not only on their playoff hopes this year but also their ability to sign free agents in the offseason. Let's not forget that the Knicks still owe Anthony more than $75 million over the next three seasons, so this is something that should be a major concern, and it clearly is.