OG Anunoby has turned into a long-range assassin for the New York Knicks. Especially from the corners. And Dirk Nowitzki may have something to do with it.
Mike Breen relayed a story on the MSG broadcast during the Knicks’ recent win over the Miami Heat. The gist of it was that Anunoby sought Nowitzki’s counsel on outside shooting.
“I heard Dirk Nowitzki talk about this on the Amazon broadcast,” Breen explained, with around 10:50 left in the fourth quarter. “Anunoby reached out to Nowitzki to ask him about shooting. Every detail. He wanted to know about feet, about breathing, what your eyes do.”
Anunoby apparently reached out to Dirk sometime last year. Nowitzki wasn’t shy about sharing the level of detail into which he and OG went.
Dirk on OG: "He wanted to know more about shooting so last year he reached out to me…He wanted to know every little detail about feet, positioning of hands, breathing, where eyes go––he asked me all sorts of questions. One main thing I told him about: finger position on ball" pic.twitter.com/pU58BX82s8
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) December 17, 2025
“And the the No. 1 thing Nowitzki told him about was the positioning of his hands,” Breen summarized. “One of the things he said to him was ‘Spread your fingers when you shoot the ball.’”
The extent to which Anunoby took any of this to heart and put it into practice is unclear. His outside shooting, though, speaks for itself.
OG Anunoby has turned into a corner-three superhero
Anunoby is canning over 38 percent of his triples this season, on more than six attempts per game. Though his above-the-break touch has sputtered, dipping below 30 percent after hovering around 37 percent last year, he has turned into one of the league’s most lethal threats from the corners.
The 28-year-old is shooting 47.5 percent on non-arc threes—a career high. He ranks ninth in made triples from the corner as well, which is categorically absurd when you consider he’s missed roughly one-third of the season.
There was some initial concern that Anunoby might wilt a little bit in Mike Brown’s more egalitarian offense. His place in the pecking order wasn’t entrenched in stone to begin with, and having him work even more away from the ball could theoretically leave him feeling unfulfilled or underused.
It hasn’t.
Working off ball movement, including drive-and-sprays, suits Anunoby. There is also something to the “ball finds energy” trope. Playing off it is more purposeful when you trust you’ll have an opportunity to finish possessions anyway.
It also helps that the offense has juiced Anunoby’s own driving opportunities. He is finishing 7.7 downhill attacks per 36 minutes, up from 5.8 last season. The threat of him putting the ball on the deck has helped keep defenses on tilt, and opened up more space from him beyond the arc on the catch, either off over-aggressive closeouts he can exploit, or by offering more breathing room on his jumper.
The Knicks might still get a better version of Anunoby
While this sounds ridiculous, especially knowing he’s also making an All-Defense case, Anunoby has the chance to get even better.
Banging in under 30 percent of his above-the-break threes is atypical. He has never been the most efficient arc shooter. Last year’s 37 percent clip was anomalous relative to the past half-decade. But he’s never trafficked in bottom-of-the-barrel efficiency either.
The catalysts behind the dip aren’t entirely certain. It could be a matter of opportunity. Anunoby spends a lion’s share of his minutes alongside Karl-Anthony Towns, who will often gravitate to those arc spots.
At any rate, based on the level of granular detail with which Anunoby grilled Dirk, trusting his corner-three touch is fair game. So is believing he’ll get better on those non-corner looks, too. Perhaps next time these two talk, Dirk can teach OG how to uncork the one legged-fadeaway.