It has seemingly been trending in the direction of OG Anunoby departing the New York Knicks in NBA free agency.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, the wing declined his $19.93 million option for next season and will hit the open market.
Once New York acquired Mikal Bridges in an absolutely massive trade with the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday, it seemingly became clear that Anunoby was on the outs.
Now, we’re not too sure. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke some more news after details of the Bridges trade to New York became public record. It’s rather interesting stuff.
“The Knicks are still determined to keep OG Anunoby in free agency, sources tell ESPN, but the ability to resign center Isaiah Hartenstein becomes more difficult now. The Knicks are loading up on wings to match up with the NBA champion Boston Celtics.”
Report on OG Anunoby and the Knicks
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Can the New York Knicks afford OG Anunoby?
Yes. That’s the short of it.
After being acquired from the Toronto Raptors ahead of the in-season NBA trade deadline, Anunoby was stellar for New York. The team posted a 26-6 record with him in the mix, playoffs included.
OG Anunoby stats: 14.1 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.7 SPG, 1 BPG, 34.9 MPG with New York Knicks
This had led to a market that could start at $35 million annually with teams such as the Philadelphia 76ers interested in the three-and-D wing.
New York would have to work out a way to move the contracts of Mitchell Robinson and Julius Randle in order to make this work.
But a core group of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridgers and OG Anunoby could very well compete with Boston moving forward.
New York is also still loking to re-sign center Isaiah Hartenstein. But the acquisition of Bridges will make that more difficult.