OG Anunoby is known for his defense. That’s what tends to happen when you make an All-Defensive team and win a steals title, and he hasn’t missed a beat since joining the New York Knicks. He leads all perimeter players with 7.4 contested shots per game, and he’s sixth among all NBA players with 3.9 deflections per game. Stop the conversation right here and Anunoby is already more than earning his keep in New York, but he’s always felt he deserved more credit.
“I always prided myself on being a two-way player, not just a defender,” Anunoby recently told The Athletic’s James Edwards.
Sure, a small facet of his offense would be lumped into the description when he was listed among the NBA’s elite 3-and-D players, but it remained extremely reductive. Anunoby has long been capable of more, and reporting throughout the end of his tenure with the Toronto Raptors suggested he’s been aiming to prove it.
Monday was an exclamation point on Anunoby’s season-long prove-it tour. In a 145-118 decimation of the Denver Nuggets, Anunoby scored a career-high 40 points on 16-of-23 shooting. Those numbers weren’t just accumulated through the sort of traditional role player shots that have been expected of him. Of his five 3-pointers, only two came in the corners. That has more or less held with his overall rate this season.
Entering this season, 43.4% of his 3s came in the corners, the shortest and easiest triples on the court. When he arrived in New York last season, that number bolted up to 58.7% in his 23 regular-season games with the Knicks. He’s down to a 34.7% corner rate this season. On Monday, he shot 11-of-16 inside of the arc, killing Denver in the paint and as a midrange shooter. That rim rate has soared since he became a Knick. In Toronto, only 31.5% of his shots came within three feet of the basket. He’s just a hair below 35% as a Knick.
That versatility as a shot maker has been on display all season. Pick an area of the court and his heat map is bright red. Anunoby is making over 70% of his restricted area attempts, nearly 42% of his midrange looks and almost 43% of his above-the-break 3s. He’s on pace to set a new career-high in in free-throw attempts, and he’s even recovered as many loose balls on offense as Josh Hart, who is perpetually among the league leaders on that front. The best part? He’s doing all of this without dribbling. On average, he dribbles only 1.07 times per touch, trailing only Karl-Anthony Towns, a center, within the Knicks’ core rotation, and he holds the ball on average for just 1.92 seconds per touch, the lowest figure among that group.
That’s the beauty of this low-maintenance masterpiece of a season Anunoby is having on offense. The Knicks don’t need to call plays for him. He’s taken only four shots out of isolation all season, according to Synergy Sports. Everything is within the flow of the offense, and everything is working. Defenses overcommitting to Towns and Jalen Brunson? Great, Anunoby is averaging 1.68 points per possession off of cuts. That ranks in the 90th percentile league-wide. He also ranks in the 90th percentile in terms of post-up efficiency, scoring 1.278 points per possession there because he almost exclusively uses the post to punish the mismatches his more famous teammates create. He’s running the court so well that he leads the Knicks in fast-break points comfortably. He doesn’t dribble much, but if you overcommit to a closeout behind the arc? He’ll put the ball on the deck and dunk your poor, out-of-position center into oblivion.
These aren’t the traits of a player who can be defined exclusively by his defense, and that’s because Anunoby has evolved well beyond that. He’s not even a 3-and-D player anymore. It’s time to start fitting him for a new, loftier label: All-Star.
The Knicks already have two of those in Brunson and Towns, but Anunoby has been more consistent than either this season. Their defensive vulnerabilities have been a major problem for the 23rd-ranked Knicks. Anunoby is one of the few players holding them together at all on that front. Those two may create the bulk of New York’s shots, but Anunoby is finishing more than his fair share of them, and his ability to do so without demanding touches or play calls that might otherwise take the stars out of their rhythm is vital.
The raw numbers will work against Anunoby on the All-Star front. It’s rare that 19-point scorers make the cut, but not unprecedented. This decade alone, there have been 15 All-Stars chosen averaging fewer points than Anunoby currently is. Almost all of them, like Anunoby, were defensive stars who found ways to thrive in low-usage offensive roles. Most of those players were centers, but the East’s crop of wings is relatively weak so far this season.
Jaylen Brown is off to his least efficient shooting start ever. Paul George has barely played and Khris Middleton hasn’t even debuted. Paolo Banchero’s injury absence may take him out of the running. The only locks among Eastern Conference forwards at the moment are probably Jayson Tatum, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Evan Mobley. Anunoby has compelling arguments over just about everyone else.
Whether he gets the call in February or not, Anunoby has, if nothing else, shed any accusations that he is merely a defender. The Knicks are obviously thrilled with what he brings on that end of the floor every night, but so far this season, he’s been just as important to one of the league’s best offenses as well.
