The New York Knicks' season effectively came to an end when star player Kristaps Porzingis suffered a torn ACL and was ruled out for the remainder of the campaign.

In his absence, they have been a sinking ship and have found it extremely difficult to get any wins.

The Knicks are currently on a nine-game losing streak and have lost 17 of their last 18 games.

With their playoff hopes disappearing for another year, head coach Jeff Hornacek has decided to use the rest of the year to develop their young players.

When they concluded a trade to acquire Emmanuel Mudiay from the Denver Nuggets at last month's deadline, Hornacek immediately thrust him into the starting lineup at the expense of veteran Jarrett Jack.

He has also given extended minutes to younger players like Luke Kornet and Trey Burke more often since the All-Star break.

This was a decision mutually agreed on between Hornacek and the Knicks management.

From the outside looking in, it's obviously seen as a sign of tanking and not everybody in the locker room is happy to lose games.

Speaking on Friday, Enes Kanter hit out at teams that are using the remaining games to develop younger players and taking the focus away from winning.

"Let me tell you something, man: They can develop guys in the G League. This is not the time to develop young guys, or whatever, because we're trying to win games here," Kanter said, per ESPN's Ian Begley.

"This team is paying us a lot of money, everybody, and all the fans are paying a lot money to watch the games and they're paying a lot of money for tickets, so they're not just coming here watching, 'Oh, this guy's getting better. This guy's developing.' No, we're trying to win games here, man.

"I think that's how our mindset should be," he added. "And if they want to develop somebody, they can send him to the G League and we can see some development. But I think right now, we're trying to win games. We're not trying to develop nobody."

Memphis Grizzlies veteran Marc Gasol made similar comments recently and urged his team to use their G-League affiliate to bring youngsters through.

But coach Hornacek said they're trying to strike a balance winning games with giving young players an opportunity to gain experience in the NBA.

"I like the philosophy. We're trying to win every game. We go out there and you work hard. It's not like you're just going out there and throwing all the young guys out there at one time. One guy may be playing here and there," Hornacek said.

"... We're still trying to win the games and at the same time develop guys. [Kanter's] been a warrior for us all year just trying to go out there every night and win. That's what we want him to continue to do."

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