Grading Knicks’ Early Moves in NBA Free Agency

Evaluating New York’s two big transactions in a vacuum is tricky, because the idea really is for the moves to be taken in concert. Yes, this is a big contract cost for OG Anunoby, a 26-year-old no-time All-Star, but the Knicks have assembled the kind of defensive tandem on the wing that just might have what it takes to bother the Boston Celtics’ star-studded combo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

Even better, Anunoby, like Bridges, is more than a defensive specialist.

That’s where Anunoby does his best work, obviously, as few defenders across the entire league can match his versatility. There might be players who are better at chasing guards around the perimeter or banging with bigs in the low post, but there aren’t many (if any) who are equally capable of handling either assignment.

And, again, defense isn’t all Anunoby does. He’s also typically a nightly supplier of roughly 15 points per game with three-point numbers that impress in both volume (2.2 makes per tilt over the past four seasons) and efficiency (38.2 percent during this same stretch).

There are, of course, potential pitfalls in this pact. For one, you don’t see a lot of non-stars scoring average annual salaries north of $40 million. For another, availability has never been a big strength of his. He has reached the 70-game mark just once in his career, when he made 74 trips to the hardwood as a rookie in 2017-18.

There are ways that this investment could go awry. There are reasons to worry how this contract could look during the final few years, as Anunoby is about to celebrate his 27th birthday and could’ve exited his prime before this agreement is up.

Still, you can see the thought process behind what the ‘Bockers were doing. All roads out of the East run through the Boston Celtics until proven otherwise, and the Knicks might have the depth and perimeter defense needed to present the biggest challenge to the reigning champions of any club in the conference.