By all accounts, OG Anunoby had the best season of his career in 2024-25 in many ways.
He averaged 18.0 points (a career-high), 4.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 2.4 stocks. He tied a career-high with 74 games played, only previously matched by his rookie season, and played all 18 playoff games to set a career-high with 92 total games played. Further, he managed this with the highest workload of his career, playing 36.6 minutes per game and logging a grand total of 3,411 high-stress minutes in the regular
season and playoffs, while being the team’s defensive anchor.
Let that serve as a reminder to thank Nico Harrison for allowing the Knicks to poach Casey Smith to run the team’s training staff, en route to their healthiest season in a long time despite heavy workloads for their starters.
While the durability was probably the best part of Anunoby’s season, his scoring outbursts would be the most exciting. It started with him dropping 40 for the first time in his career in Denver on November 25 and posting an ultra-efficient 31 points on 15 shots against his former team in December. However, his increased confidence with the ball culminated in him stepping up while Jalen Brunson missed time with an ankle injury, averaging 23.8 points on 49.4% from the field and 41.7% from deep over a span of 19 games just before the playoffs.
And of course, he remained one of the best defenders in all of basketball. Despite the shortcomings of the rest of the roster defensively, leading to him being stretched too thin at times, he was routinely up to the task against the league’s premier forwards and was a few votes away from making his second career All-Defensive team.
But it wasn’t all sunshine and daisies for Anunoby. Just as much as he showed his potential with his sudden scoring bursts, Anunoby went into brutal slides with his shooting. After being one of the league’s best corner 3-point shooters, Anunoby sat below 35% there for much of the season before a late-season boost improved it to nearly 38%. That’s good, but much below recent years (44.2% in 2023-24, 45.0% in 2022-23, 46.0% in 2021-22).
Anunoby also had a substandard postseason. Could it be due to fatigue from a long season where he played a career high in minutes by far? Sure, but he still disappointed by shooting just 41.7% from the field and 33.9% from three. The Knicks’ offense relied on both him and Mikal Bridges hitting their corner threes on kick-outs, but Anunoby went just 15-for-60 (25%) in the corner during the playoff run. Anunoby also did not fare well when matched up on Pascal Siakam in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Ultimately, the good outweighed the bad for OG last season, but it’ll be interesting to see what his second full season in orange and blue will bring.
The No. 1 priority for the Knicks with Anunoby is keeping him healthy for the playoffs, where he often guards the other team’s best. It’s hard to rely on another season of super-durability, so the departure of Tom Thibodeau will be a welcome one for him, even if Mike Brown isn’t a big proponent of load management himself.
The way to keep Anunoby from overextending and hurting himself is two-pronged. He needs more help defensively and can’t be playing 40 minutes a night. Much of Anunoby’s minutes last season were spent with him as the only great defender on the court, with Bridges being forced to be the point-of-attack defender; he would have to overextend to make up on the backend for the two (three?) negative defenders on the court. If Mitchell Robinson can have a healthy season, or Deuce McBride gets a big minutes boost, it’ll help Anunoby in a big way.
The Knicks still don’t have great wing depth, but moving Josh Hart to the bench would at least give him and Bridges a backup capable of relieving them without a massive dropoff. Maybe Pacome Dadiet can take a leap on offense and be able to step in as a bench wing at some points this season.
All that said, let’s set some goals for OG this season. It’s hard to live up to the gigantic contract he’s on, but the Knicks don’t need too much from him to do so. He went 2-for-3 on my goals last season!
Play 70 games (again)
It’s a hard ask for a guy who has never played consecutive 70-game seasons, but the Knicks need it. There is not enough high-end defense on this roster for him to miss extended time. Mitchell Robinson and Deuce McBride are top-shelf defenders for their positions, but neither is a wing, and Robinson specifically has massive concerns of his own. If the Knicks are going to have the season they’ve been dreaming about, they’ll need him healthy.
Oh yeah, also be healthy for the playoffs. That too.
Back to business in the corner
As mentioned earlier, Anunoby has consistently sat between 44-46% from the corner in the last three seasons, before dipping to 37.9% this past season. Better spacing lineups will help tremendously, but OG is going to have to make his shots. He and Bridges are setting records for volume out there; imagine if they start hitting them at a high clip.
All-Defensive First Team
He is more than capable. He missed out on making the second team last year by a total of 16 votes. If the Knicks can lessen his workload, his impact will be further felt instead of being diminished due to being stretched too thin. It’ll be tough with the competition consisting of the likes of Dyson Daniels, Lu Dort, Amen Thompson, and more, but he can do it.
