The New York Knicks are paying $46 million for two players who won't play the rest of the season

The New York Knicks gave up on their season months ago.

Early in the season, reports came out saying there was locker room unrest, the players didn't like the triangle offense, and the team fell to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. 

With nothing left to play for this season - except a top draft pick in the lottery - the Knicks have been doing favors for some of their biggest players.

Over the weekend, they bought out the remainder of Amar'e Stoudemire's $23.4 million contract to let him join a contender as a free agent. Wednesday they announced they're shutting down Carmelo Anthony for the season because of a knee injury that will likely require surgery.

Though it won't have much of an on-court effect, the Knicks are swallowing a lot of cash for two players that won't be playing:

That's $23.4 million for Stoudemire, plus Anthony's $22.5 million this year - the first of his new, five-year, $124 million deal.

The high pricetag to let two players off for the season doesn't have much of an effect on the Knicks. Earlier in 2015, Forbes valued the franchise at $2.5 billion, demonstrating the monetary effect of playing in the largest media market in the U.S. despite a poor on-court product.