Orange and blue skies. The Knicks are the early winners of the offseason.
The New York Knicks are re-signing their two-way specialist OG Anunoby to a massive five-year, $212.5 million contract that will make him the highest-paid player in the legendary franchise’s history, according to ESPN’s senior insider Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal will include a player option and a trade kicker, but falls just short of the approximate $245 million max figure the Knicks could have paid him. According to SNY’s Ian Begley, Anunoby had max offers from several other teams, but chose to stay in the ‘Big Apple’ and attempt to compete for the organizations third championships and first since 1973.
The Knicks acquired Anunoby in a mid-season trade with the Toronto Raptors, where he had spent his entire career up to that point and New York proceeded to go on a heater, 20-3, with him in the lineup during the regular season.
On Tuesday night, the Knicks acquired Brooklyn Nets wing Mikal Bridges in a blockbuster trade that cost them an unbelievable amount of draft capital. The move meant that they put all their chips in the middle of the table in an all-in push designed to make the Knicks championship-ready this season, however, without Anunoby, the Knicks likely would have surrendered all of that capital for a somewhat lateral move. Now that they have taken care of one of their top priorities, the Knicks are in prime position to challenge the defending champion Boston Celtics for Eastern Conference supremacy.
Embed from Getty ImagesWith Bridges and Anunoby ready to go, the Knicks have what is likely the most formidable duo of wing defenders in the NBA. Bridges was the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up in 2022, while Anunoby was chosen for Second-Team All-Defense honors in 2023. Together, they give the Knicks a corporal pair of defenders to throw at Boston’s star wings, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, as well as any other superstars New York might encounter along the way to their ultimate goal.
With their best free agent in the saddle, the Knicks can now turn their attention towards starting center Isaiah Hartenstein. He is also a free agent, but the Knicks only have his Early Bird Rights. That means they can only give him a 75% raise next season, which would amount to a roughly $16.2 million salary and a $72.5 million deal over four seasons. He is without a doubt going to receive more lucrative offers from other teams on the open market. Making things more difficult for the Knicks is that the Bridges trade will hard-cap them at either the first or second luxury tax apron depending on the final structure of the deal. That means they may have to cut salary in another deal to make a serious run at keeping Hartenstein in the fold or otherwise compromising their depth.
The Knicks still have plenty of work to do, but prior to the NBA Draft even opening, they have accomplished their two biggest goals of the offseason. They have retained their best free agent and added an enormous difference-maker via trade. No matter what happens between now and opening night in late October, this offseason is a overwhelming success for the Knicks.
