Are the New York Knicks legitimate contenders with OG Anunoby?

Fubo News breaks down the New York Knicks’ title chances with OG Anunoby now in the fold. Watch the NBA live on Fubo all season.

The New York Knicks were done waiting. They were done waiting for the hypothetical star to want to go to New York and done waiting to be taken seriously as contenders in the Eastern Conference this season.

So, they packaged RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and the 31st pick in the 2024 NBA Draft (via the Detroit Pistons) for OG Anunoby.

Now New York has two All-Star caliber players in Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle leading the offense, two All-Defense caliber players in Mitchell Robinson and Anunoby anchoring that end of the floor and a former NBA Coach of the Year in Tom Thibodeau pulling the strings.

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But, does that make New York a legitimate and viable contender in the Eastern Conference this season? 

The rest of the trade also saw the Toronto Raptors send Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn to New York.

Those additions give New York additional depth, especially with Achiuwa who is a perfect player in the Thibodeau system as a tough, energetic and athletic defender. With Robinson missing the rest of the season after ankle surgery New York will need as much depth as possible and everything that Achiuwa brings to the table.

Anunoby specifically adds one of four, maybe five players in the league that can guard the other team’s best player whether they are a point guard, shooting guard, small forward or power forward. 

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Last season Anunoby ranked in the 93rd percentile in steal percentage for wings and in the 91st percentile in block percentage. He finished the year first in steals last season.

If you get even nerdier, Anunoby ranked third in the league behind only Alex Caruso and Jaren Jackson Jr. in defensive EPM and four among non-centers in field goal percentage against.

What Anunoby brings to New York is a swiss-army knife defender that Thibodeau can deploy to disrupt point-of-attack offensive players, wing scorers and perimeter-oriented big men. 

The other major positive of Anunoby on this team is that his defensive greatness does not come with a net-negative offensive contribution. He is not a dud on the offensive end.

For his career, Anunoby is a 37.5% three-point shooter and 41.8% from the corner. That will be a secret weapon for New York, putting Anunoby in the corner to space the defense using him as a shooter and rim-runner. 

New York has proven this season that they can score with the best offenses in the league and lockdown on defense against those same offenses. They are on paper one of the most balanced teams in the Eastern Conference and the league overall after this trade.

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A rotation of Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, Anunoby, Randle, Isaiah Hartenstein, Josh Hart, Quentin Grimes, Miles McBride and Achiuwa is about as good defensively in the NBA. Every player in that rotation is a plus defender, switchable against good teams like the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic come playoff time.

The only team they are going to struggle against with this group minus Robinson is Philadelphia, but every team struggles against Joel Embiid and Philadelphia.

New York also provides lockdown defenders against Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris and Kelly Oubre, allowing Embiid to be dominant and still give New York the edge.

Looking at the landscape of the Eastern Conference there is an argument for New York to make a run to the conference finals. Losing Robinson is a major blow to the team, but this trade helps insulate them without the All-Defensive caliber big man.

Right now New York is in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, just one game out of playing a home series as the fourth seed. 

They are 2-0 with Anunoby already with a tough road stretch coming up where they play four out of five on the road, but then they play 12 of the next 16 at home heading into All-Star Weekend. During that stretch New York plays nine playoff-caliber teams, but none of the championship favorites. 

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It is not outside the realm of possibility that New York heads into All-Star Weekend as the fourth seed and threatens Philadelphia and Milwaukee for the third seed. 

This team was already good before making the move for Anunoby, but the defense was starting to slip after Robinson went down with injury. Before the injury New York was 12-8, allowing 107.5 points per game to opponents and only gave up 120-plus points in two games. 

After his injury and before the Anunoby trade they have gone 5-7 allowing 124.6 points per game to opponents. They allowed less than 120-plus points in just four of those games.

While the sample size is very, very small and the opponents are both in the bottom third in the league in points per game, New York is 2-0 allowing 103.0 points per game to opponents.

Thibodeau has the best Thibodeau roster he has had in four years in New York. Anunoby gives the team a defensive swiss-army knife that does not drag down the offense, complementing Brunson and Randle better than the players sent out in this trade opening the door for New York to get back to the conference finals for the first time since Allen Houston and Latrell Sprewell made a run almost 25 years ago.

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