OG Anunoby is one of the game's most elite defenders, and has been for multiple years. This season, the versatile wing could reach even higher defensive peaks, considering the fact that he should be spending a much higher percentage of his minutes alongside Mitchell Robinson.
Last season, Anunoby's first full year with the Knicks, most of his minutes came with Karl-Anthony Towns as the center. As good as Towns is as a basketball player, he is a bad, often very bad, defender.
Anunoby's combination of size and athleticism makes him one of the most versatile defenders in the league. Because of Towns' limitations, he was asked to do a lot on the defensive end to hold things together for New York. Robinson is set to enter the 2025-26 season fully healthy and should play a much bigger role than he did last season, when he appeared in only 17 games, something that could elevate Anunoby to new levels.
What the numbers say
Towns isn't a rim protector, by any stretch. Of players who are 7'0" or taller and played at least 25 minutes per game, Towns was one of only three to average less than a block per game last season. In other words, Anunoby played most of last season without a rim protector.
Last season, Anunoby and Towns shared the floor for 1,802 minutes, during which the Knicks had a 115.7 defensive rating. Anunoby played 903 minutes without Towns, where the Knicks posted a 111.1 defensive rating.
Robinson, on the other hand, is a phenomenal rim protector and defender as a whole, and the impact he had on the Knicks was crystal clear in the playoffs.
In the playoffs, where there is a larger sample size of Mitchell Robinson's playing time, the Knicks posted a 110.6 defensive rating when Anunoby and Robinson shared the court and Towns sat.
Robinson should give Anunoby plenty of help on defense
Robinson is an elite defender. Having a rim protector like Robinson behind him gives him even more flexibility to showcase his talents, while also letting him spend more time guarding players closer to his size.
Anunoby is one of the few players in the league that truly can effectively guard every position on the floor. Robinson, while best suited as a traditional rim protector, showed the ability to guard the perimeter during the Knicks' playoff run. The two players, with a full season of health, could elevate not only each other but the defense as a whole to heights the Knicks have not yet seen.