Melo 'ahead of schedule' in recovery; officially launches NASL soccer team

Carmelo Anthony says he's doing "extremely well" in the wake of season-ending left knee surgery in February, claiming he's ahead of the estimated recovery timetable.

"I'm actually ahead of schedule (compared) to where everybody predicted I would be at this point in time," the Knicks forward told Ian Begley of ESPN New York on Thursday. While he has not scrimmaged with teammates yet, he is expected to be good to go for training camp.

Thursday's update came with some news regarding the franchise player's business interests, namely that Anthony made official his ownership of a new North American Soccer League franchise based in Puerto Rico.

As first reported earlier this month, Anthony will be the majority owner of Puerto Rico FC, which begins play next season. The NASL is the Division 2 system of Major League Soccer, and Puerto Rico represents its first franchise off of mainland North America. Anthony, who has Puerto Rican heritage, referred to the U.S. territory in the Caribbean as "my island" in an interview with ESPN.

Elsewhere, the 10-time All-Star has teamed with Nickelodeon on a line of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" products.

The comic franchise was most popular when the 31-year-old was a child, in the late 1980s and early '90s.

Anthony will act as creative director of "Turtles by Melo," according to The Hollywood Reporter, a line that will reportedly include everything from video games to home furnishings. Paramount helped re-popularize the franchise last year with the "Turtles" movie, which did well enough at the global box office to green-light a sequel next year.

Anthony was limited to 40 games last season due to the lingering knee issue, but the volume scorer was the entire offense for the woeful Knicks. He averaged 24.2 points on just over 20 shots a night.