3 Knicks not named Jalen Brunson who will be crucial to team's success

OG Anunoby

You've read it a million times, but New York was 26-5 with Anunoby in the lineup last season. Even after dealing with two injuries (elbow and hamstring), that sample size was enough for the Knicks to sign the wing to a five-year, $212.5 million deal.

New York was linked to Anunoby well before the front office traded for him on Dec. 30. The tweet from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski was a shocker, mainly because it meant RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley were gone. It took a bit for fans to accept that fact, but once Anunoby made his debut, it all made sense.

He fit seamlessly alongside Brunson, DiVincenzo, Randle, and Hartenstein. In January, the Knicks looked unstoppable. They went from a playoff team to a contender, but things turned south at the end of the month. Randle got hurt, and Anunoby missed time with an elbow injury that eventually required minor surgery.

Anunoby returned at the end of the regular season and was instrumental in New York's first-round series win over Philadelphia, but he injured his hamstring in Game 2 of the second round. He briefly returned in Game 7, but he was pulled after he struggled to run up and down the floor.

The only con about the 27-year-old is his injury history. With the Raptors, he missed most of their 2019 title run because he underwent emergency appendectomy surgery. At the beginning of the 2023-24 season, he missed time because of a finger laceration while doing household chores. Those are two examples of the injuries he dealt with in Toronto.

It'd be massive for the Knicks if Anunoby can stay healthy this season, and that doesn't mean playing all 82 games. The most games he played for the Raptors was 69 in 2019-20. If he can stay in that range in 2024-25, New York will be scary.