The second most important player on the Knicks isn't who you think

Jalen Brunson long ago crystallized himself as the one player the New York Knicks cannot afford to lose. His place atop their pecking order is inarguable, in ways both comforting and unnerving.

New York's dependence on him can be extreme, to the point of escalating fragility. Who are the Knicks without him? Or when he's not operating at the peak of his powers? Overall, though, his presence is akin to constant reassurance. Finding someone capable of headlining a contender is the hardest part of building one. Brunson gives the Knicks that player.

Establishing the pecking order beneath him, though, is comparably important. That exercise has been more clear cut in previous years. It was not a matter of who needed to be the Knicks' No. 2 (Julius Randle); it was an issue of whether he was good enough, or the right fit.

The second-wheel subject is more open-ended this season, albeit still fairly straightforward. Mikal Bridges or Karl-Anthony Towns is the answer, because one of them needs to be the answer. New York forked over the solar system to get Bridges, and Towns came at steep financial and opportunity costs, sponging up 35 percent of the salary cap and the Knicks' preexisting second-most important player.

This question persists an entire season later, as New York prepares to enter the 2025 NBA playoffs. The cost of acquiring Bridges suggests its him. Per-game production, All-NBA discussions and, yes, a $49.2 million salary are votes in favor of Towns.

And yet, it's actually neither of them.

The OG Anunoby offensive leap has changed everything

OG Anunoby is the answer.

This doesn't invite double-takes when looking at the payroll. Towns is the only player on the roster making more than him. But it is a counter-intuitive development when considering his track record, and what this squad needs the most behind Brunson: a second-in-command who can drive larger shares of the offense.

That has never Anunoby's strength. It still isn't in many respects. Over 70 percent of his twos and almost 94 percent of his threes come off assists, according to Basketball-Reference. Those shares are right in line with his career averages.

Both Bridges and Towns have profiles better suited to the role. They each rank in the 89th percentile or better of self-created shot-making efficiency, per BBall Index. Anunoby currently sits inside the 10th percentile, and has never placed higher in his career than the 23rd percentile.

Bridges and Towns are the more accomplished playmakers to boot. KAT has next-level standstill vision, and Bridges' live-dribble reads have (generally) been on the come-up since his penultimate year in Phoenix.

The interpretations of New York's pecking order have nevertheless shifted. This progression is largely gradual, but it was turbo-boosted during the time Brunson missed with a sprained right ankle.

Since then, Anunoby is the Knicks' second-leading scorer at 23.1 points per game and downing more than 55 percent of his twos and 40 percent of his triples. Most of his made buckets continue to come off assists, but that distribution has moved as he's increased his overall usage. Around 83 percent of his baskets were the result of helping hands before Brunson's injury. That number is down to 71 percent over the past month-plus.

This functional shift doesn't feature a traditional breakdown of half-court defenses. Anunoby has uncorked his step-back jumper more often—he's shooting 35.7 percent on them during this stretch, up from 23.8 percent before—and continues to bust out the semi-occasional spins and fakes when going downhill. Generally speaking, he's not methodically snaking around defenses or employing changes in on-ball cadence en masse.

Overarching aggression is the key to his transformation. More specifically, a higher-volume of drives has buttressed his live-ball scoring, foul-drawing, and even playmaking.

Prior to Brunson's absence, Anunoby was averaging around 5.0 drives per 36 minutes. That number has skyrocketed in recent weeks, to 8.6 drives per 36 minutes. This added volume comes with a material rise in efficiency (45.8 percent shooting now, up from 40.9 percent), and perhaps more critically, a significantly higher foul rate.

Anunoby has drawn fouls on 13.6 percent of his drives in this span, up from 9.5 percent before. The only player who has scored as much out of these plays while matching his foul rate is his own teammate: Towns.

Can Anunoby keep this up in the playoffs?

Whether Anunoby's rise can hold with the Knicks at full strength remains another open question. But the appeal of his ascent is that it should.

For all he is doing now, Anunoby is more plug-and-play than anyone else on the Knicks. He spends more time off the ball than Bridges or Towns, and doesn't hold onto it for as long when he has it.

This is not to imply either Bridges or Towns are ball-stoppers. They are not. But their self-created shots can take longer to generate. Anunoby's default is quicker-fire decision-making, rendering the highest-usage version of himself an easier fit inside a larger, Brunson-centric ecosystem.

Bridges and Towns still have the edge as half-court table-setters. But even that gap is shrinking. Anunoby is making progressively better reads, and his driving acumen allows head coach Tom Thibodeau to implement more possessions in which OG is decision-making out of ball-screens. We even saw Brunson work off Anunoby in New York's most recent loss to Boston.

Defenses have split their focus accordingly. After Brunson, Bridges and Towns typically see the tougher individual assignments. But the difference between the difficulty of their primary draws now just barely edge out those of Anunoby.

Is Anunoby actually more important to the Knicks than Towns and Bridges?

This argument begins to fall apart at the seams if we rest it entirely on the offensive end. For all of his growth, Anunoby remains the least dynamic of Brunson's three most important sidekicks.

Still, he more than offsets that with his role on defense.

Others contest a larger percentage of opponents shot at the rim, and Bridges more routinely chases around No. 1 options. But Anunoby's positional versatility far exceeds that of anyone else on the roster, and he's in contention for the league's most malleable defender, period.

If you need someone to get a stop on any given possession, versus any given player, regardless of position, you're choosing from a short list that features him, Bam Adebayo, Toumani Camara, (healthy) Anthony Davis, Amen Thompson, and potentially nobody else.

Also: The script flips on No. 1 assignments when the Knicks face superstars with more size. Anunoby can cover the Jayson Tatums of the world, and the Giannis Antetokounmpos of the universe. He's even better suited than Bridges, in many instances, to pestering larger guards with more variable on-ball shifting in their arsenal.

Tatum is the poster-opponent for Anunoby's defensive indispensability, if only because the Boston Celtics are the contender the Knicks built this roster with the intent of beating. And never mind the individual matchup stats. The Celtics as a team are averaging 1.03 points per possession when Anunoby registers as a defender on Tatum. That is bananas when you consider Boston churns out around 1.20 points per possession overall for the season.

So while Anunoby's recent blastoff still doesn't render him the Knicks' unchallenged No. 2 option, when combined with all he does on defense, it does make him the one player after Brunson they cannot afford lose.

Dan Favale is a Senior NBA Contributor for FanSided and National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.