Carmelo Anthony Is Afraid of Getting Injured on Knicks Bench

Injured New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony hasn’t been seen on the bench next to his teammates in part because he is afraid of getting injured again by a hustling player who could run into him, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post.

Anthony is out for the season and is expected to miss the next four months after having surgery on his left knee in February.

The Knicks lost to the Brooklyn Nets 100-98 on Wednesday, extending their franchise-record number of losses in a season to 61.

According to the report, Anthony has been at Madison Square Garden to do light stretching and to mingle with teammates, but he does not join his teammates on the bench when tip-off arrives.

When Knicks coach Derek Fisher was asked if that was the reason that Anthony was not on the bench, he said he didn’t know.

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“You can ask him that if you ever get a chance to talk to him or the medical staff,’’ Fisher said. “There’s been no discussion whether Carmelo would be sitting on the bench when he’s recovering from a major knee surgery.”

This article originally appeared on SI.com.