Report: OG Anunoby May Want 4-Year, $160 Million Deal From Knicks This Summer

According to NBA insider Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports, OG Anunoby may want a four-year, $160 million contract from the New York Knicks this summer. 

Anunoby can become an unrestricted free agent this offseason if he declines his 2024-25 player option worth $19.9 million. 

“He will try to break the bank there,” an Eastern Conference GM told Deveney. “Why not? They can’t afford to lose him. Not a max deal or anything, but I think from his side, it is going to look more like $40 million per year, something like four years and $160 million.”

The Knicks acquired Anunoby from the Toronto Raptors. They are 15-2 with Anunoby in the lineup. 

Anunoby is dealing with pain and soreness in his surgically repaired right elbow. He hasn’t played since March 16. 

“It has to worry you,” one Eastern Conference general manager told Deveney. “He is going to get a lot of money from the Knicks, but he is starting to look like a player who is just injury-prone and that makes you nervous, paying him that much.”

One of the top two-way players in the NBA, Anunoby is averaging 14.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.1 blocks in 17 games with the Knicks while shooting 49.7% from the field, 36.4% from beyond the arc and 82.5% from the free-throw line. 

Anunoby has career averages of 11.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.5 blocks with the Raptors and Knicks. He won the 2019 championship with Toronto. 

The Knicks are 44-30 on the season. They are in fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings. It’s unknown if Anunoby will play again this season. 

After the Knicks lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday (3/31), Josh Hart admitted to NBA reporters that he would be “pleasantly surprised” if Anunoby and Julius Randle return this season. Randle dislocated his right shoulder on January 27 against the Miami Heat.

“I’m looking at it like this is the team we’re going to have,” Hart said, via ESPN. “I think that’s how we have to approach it, that those guys aren’t coming back and obviously we’ll be pleasantly surprised if they come back.

“I’m not in those medical conversations or anything like that, so I don’t know s— from s—. But we’ve got to approach every game and the end of this season that those guys aren’t coming back, and if they do, be pleasantly surprised.”