The news that OG Anunoby will be out two weeks after suffering a left hamstring injury against the Miami Heat Friday night at the Garden cannot be overstated. Jalen Brunson may be the captain of the Knicks; Karl-Anthony Towns may be the best scoring center / power forward in the NBA not named Nikola Jokic or Giannis Antekoumpo, but Anunoby is, without question, the most indispensable player on this team.
No, I have not taken leave of my senses; I'm just going by the numbers.
Let's take a look at the record.
According to StatMuse, when Brunson is in the lineup, the Knicks are 136-85, with a winning percentage of .615.
When Towns is in the lineup, they're 54-31, with a winning percentage of .635.
But when Anunoby is in the lineup, New York is 73-36, with a winning percentage of .670.
To put that into perspective, the Golden State Warriors are 667-371 (.643) with Steph Curry in the lineup. That's right, arguably the greatest pure shooter in NBA history has a lower winning percentage for his team than Anunoby. I'm not comparing the two; obviously, Curry is a first ballot Hall of Famer. Just pointing out that if wins and losses mean anything, OG gets you more wins.
But what about the record when each player is out of the lineup? The Knicks are 19-17 without Anunoby; 20-18 without Brunson; and 5-5 without Towns. It's clear that all three players are badly missed when they're not on the court. It's what happens when they're on the court that's at hand here.
Want further proof of Anunoby's value to this team? When he's on the court, the Knicks have a defensive rating of 106.4 points per game; when he's off the court, they have a defensive rating of 120.9 points per game. No other player on this roster has that kind of defensive point differential.
Now you know why Leon Rose traded RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to the Toronto Raptors to acquire Anunoby in December, 2023; why he was willing to re-sign him to a five year, $213 million contract extension last year; and why it would be insane for the Knicks to even think about including him in a package to Milwaukee for Giannis. What OG brings to the table cannot simply be measured on a stat sheet.
Put succinctly, Anunoby is one of the most versatile forwards in the league; capable of playing either the three or the four. He's eighth in the league in plus / minus this season with a plus 127. An elite defender who, along with Mikal Bridges, usually guards the opposing teams' best players, he had an integral role in eliminating the Boston Celtics in last year's playoffs.
Under Mike Brown, we were just starting to see how valuable Anunoby's offensive abilities could be. Not counting the game he got hurt, in which he played only five minutes, Anunoby was averaging 17.1 points per game on 48.3 percent shooting from the floor. On a team that stresses ball distribution and finding the open man, Anunoby has the potential to have a breakout season. Imagine having three players on your roster capable of putting up 20 plus points per game.
Unfortunately, Anunoby also has a history of injuries that predates his arrival in New York. The 74 games he appeared in last season were the most since his rookie season in 2018-19. The fact is every time he goes up to grab a rebound or drives to the basket to take a shot, he's playing Russian Roulette. Sooner or later you know he's going to come up lame. In game two of the 2023 Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Pacers, Anunoby pulled his hamstring chasing down a bad pass that went out of bounds late in the third quarter. FYI, the Knicks won that game to take a 2-0 lead. But Indiana won four of the next five to take the series.
Bottom line, when it comes to OG, you take the bad with the good, because the good is sooo good. And unlike Towns and Bridges, who occasionally go into the witness protection program during the game, even when Anunoby isn't scoring he's doing other things on the court. Only Josh Hart wears more hats on this team.
So that there's no misunderstanding: I'm not saying Brunson and KAT are not valuable. Far from it. This franchise wouldn't be where it is right now without Rose signing Brunson in the summer of 2022. What I am saying is that the Knicks will go only as far as a healthy OG Anunoby takes them.
You may disagree if you like. Just know that the numbers are not on your side.
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