In an offseason of multiple surprise blockbuster trades, the Knicks re-signing OG Anunoby to a five-year, $213 million contract was understandably buried below the lede. It was almost a formality given New York traded two homegrown talents to acquire him the year prior. And while the price point has been debated in light of his injury history and offensive ceiling, his defensive impact and reliable three-point shooting made him such a strong fit that the deal was almost a no-brainer.
Still, taking home the second-largest salary on a competitive team — north of $40 million annually — comes with expectations. And while Anunoby’s defense has lived up to the hype and more, this recent shooting slump has held him and his team back on the offensive end as of late.
Is it run-of-the-mill seasonality, or something of real concern?
Anunoby opened the season in incendiary fashion, averaging 19.1 points on 52.4 percent shooting from the field and 42.2 percent from three over 17 games, capped off by a career-high 40-point performance against the Denver Nuggets. Since then he’s averaged 13 a night over nine games, shooting 38 percent from the field and 23.6 percent from downtown, recording four single-digit contests, which he hadn’t done since opening night.
His shot diet hasn’t changed materially from beyond the arc — he’s mostly getting open catch-and-shoot looks, just not connecting like he was. Up until the Denver game, Anunoby was well above a 40 percent clip on his spot-up attempts, and has been sub-30 percent since, even on wide open looks.
Break his deep looks out by location and there’s been some shifts. He leaned heavily on the above the break threes during his hot streak and has divided up his attempts more evenly since. Still, his shooting percentages have drastically fallen from every spot, so it’s likely nothing to do with geography.
This falloff appears below the arc as well. Anunoby shot 70.6 percent from the restricted area and 41.7 percent from mid-range up to the Nuggets game, compared to 60.8 percent and a startling 0-5 since, respectively.
This likely indicates something larger impacting his offense as a whole. He hasn’t lost chances or rhythm as his volume is consistent in both stretches, but he may have lost a step due to fatigue.
Anunoby is averaging a career-high 36.8 minutes per contest — having yet to miss a game — and he’s third in the league in minutes played. These are extremely active minutes: he’s eighth in the league in deflections per game, second in contested three-point attempts, top 10 in miles run defensively and 11th in stocks (steals and blocks).
As the Knicks’ lead defender, Anunoby often finds himself on the toughest assignments, while also being primary help to cover up any holes opened by his teammates. Building a contender around Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns was always going to require their role players to carry an extra defensive load, but it’s been more of a team struggle than expected, and Anunoby appears to be the one suffering from trying to fight through it.
As his teammates pick up their defensive effort and Anunoby works through this slump, there’s little reason to think it won’t turn around. Anunoby had similar droughts in previous seasons — seven games of 23.1 percent three-point shooting last December, eight games of 21.1 percent shooting in November of 2022.
In the meantime, his defense has been otherworldly. And when his offense was on it was the most dynamic package he’s shown off his whole career, as close as the Kawhi Leonard comparisons have ever looked. This Knicks team and its back-and-forth swings have tried their fans’ patience in this early season. But if they can put their faith in one thing, it’s that Anunoby should bounce back from this.
