Carmelo Anthony is expected to miss the rest of the New York Knicks' road trip with a back injury.

The Knicks are concerned that Anthony's injury could become a season-long issue related to the disk.

Anthony injured his back landing awkwardly after a jump shot in Monday's game.

“Most injuries aren’t necessarily acute or traumatic,’’ Derek Fisher said. “Maybe there were some things that led up to it. Back spasms isn’t something you can push it or rush. Until you can actually play without actually being in spasm, there isn’t anything you can really do. Hopefully that will be soon.’’

Carmelo Anthony suffered a back injury during the first half of the New York Knicks' loss on Monday to the Houston Rockets.

Anthony doubled over in obvious discomfort with less than two minutes remaining in the half.

The Knicks described Anthony's injury as back spasms.

The New York Knicks have started the season slowly, while two of Carmelo Anthony's free agency suitors, the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks, look capable of going on deep title runs.

Anthony and the Knicks play both teams on the road this week.

"Of course I know that they're playing very well," Anthony said at shootaround Monday morning. "It's not something that I kind of say to myself that I regret doing this or regret doing that."

Anthony bought into the vision of Phil Jackson to stay with the Knicks.

"No, I can't do that," Anthony said of playing the what-if game. "I can't do that. I can't do that. That's just not my nature as a person. I would never be able to sit down and ask myself 'what if?'"

Anthony said he "took a deep, long look at" all that Houston had to offer, such as weather, and no state tax. He had conversations with Howard, but in the end wanted to remain with the Knicks.

"We had some great dialogue back and forth," Anthony said. "I talked to him. We talked about some things. Ultimately it came down to what I felt at that moment, what I really wanted.

"Me and Dwight had some contact and some conversation. He tried. He tried extremely hard. It didn't have anything to do with Dwight or James or anything like that. It came down to my own decision."

Carmelo Anthony has been playing with a sore left knee since the second game of the season and has undergone tests to determine the severity.

Anthony wouldn't say what's wrong with it or what those tests revealed, but he aggravated it on Tuesday.

"It's been sore since maybe the Cleveland game," Anthony said after leading the Knicks with 26 points. "I've just been trying to go through it and play through it and not kind of think about it. Some days are better than others.

"I don't think it's serious. I'm out there playing. I don't think it's that serious."

Cleanthony Early will have arthroscopic surgery to remove a loose fragment from his right knee.

The injury was diagnosed following an MRI exam.

Early will be reevaluated in one month to determine the timetable for his return to the New York Knicks' lineup.

Joe Johnson signed a six-year, $123.7 million contract with the Atlanta Hawks in 2010, but seriously considered the New York Knicks.

“Almost. Almost,” Johnson recalled of the Knicks’ contention. “The Knicks were the first team I met with.”

Johnson met with Mike D'Antoni, Allan Houston and James Dolan.

“We all met and talked and they had a great presentation. It was impressive. You know what threw me off more than anything?” Johnson asked. “Obviously there was the money difference, but they said, ‘You needed a place in Westchester and you needed a place in the city.’ They said you would roughly spend like $5 million.

“I was like, ‘aw, no,’ as opposed to being in Atlanta where I was already established with a solid team that was getting better every year. And I didn’t have to buy nothing or make any changes, and we had the arena and the practice facility in one place. It took me roughly 20 minutes with traffic to get there. Oh no. So then I never even imagined being in New York.”

D'Antoni isn't sure if the Knicks actually told Johnson that.

“I don’t know if we told him that,” D’Antoni said. “But he could afford it anyway. Obviously he made his choice, and for Atlanta, he was great.”

Marc Gasol will be the New York Knicks' main free agent target next offseason, but the San Antonio Spurs will pursue Gasol assuming Tim Duncan retires after the season.

Gasol is also appealed by staying with the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies can offer Gasol the most money, and he has grown to love the city, having lived there since high school when Pau Gasol broke into the NBA.

Tobias Harris hopes that the New York Knicks will pursue him in restricted free agency.

“I’m telling you if the Knicks come at him hard, who wouldn’t want to play for their hometown team?” a Harris confidant told SNY.tv and The Knicks Blog.

Harris is a native of Long Island and worked out multiple times this past summer with Carmelo Anthony.

“They play well together,” the confidant said. “Carmelo always had him on his team when Kevin Durant came to town and they would win every game.”

Paul Millsap will be a free agent this offseason and had a 19-point performance in the Atlanta Hawks' win over the New York Knicks.

”There’s always some potential here [in Atlanta] for sure,’’ Millsap told The Post before the Hawks swept the home-and-home Monday. “But I’m trying not to think about it, trying to put it as far in the back of my head as possible until the end of the year and see what happens.’’

Asked about playing in New York, Millsap said, “Anywhere could be an option. But my loyalty right now is in Atlanta. Free agency is free agency. When it happens, I’ll weigh my options and see where I’m at. But I’m happy in Atlanta right now.’’

Millsap played with Derek Fisher with the Utah Jazz.

“I know Fish,’’ Millsap said. “I played with Fisher for a year. He’s always been a good friend for me — not surprised at all he’s coaching. A great guy, always been a great locker-room guy. Knows the game well. I knew it would happen at some point. ‘’

Carmelo Anthony feels that the energy surrounding the New York Knicks is better this season.

"I think just overall, not pointing anything out, but just overall from day one last year the energy was just not right," Anthony said after practice on Monday. "This year, you could just feel the total difference stepping into this gym, talking to guys, talking to the staff, talking to the players. Everybody has a newfound energy so it's just a lot different now."

Anthony's assertion that the "energy was not right" from the first day of training camp last season may have been a reference to owner James Dolan's decision to fire general manager Glen Grunwald days before training camp.

Anthony was asked if Tyson Chandler may have contributed to the "bad energy."

"I'm not talking about no players, I'm just talking about as a whole, as a whole," Anthony said. "As an organization, as a whole, the energy was just different last year from day one. It ain't have nothing to do with the players. When we walked in here from day one from training camp, media day the energy was just different."