How Anunoby, Achiuwa and Flynn could fit with the New York Knicks

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It just makes sense. 

On Saturday, the New York Knicks traded RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and a second-round pick to the Toronto Raptors for OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn.

Are we allowed to call trades win-wins anymore after the debate around the Haliburton-Sabonis deal? Despite Haliburton clearly being the better asset, it gave a clear path to both teams moving forward. 

For Sacramento, they got rid of what was a luxury or surplus asset with De’Aaron Fox already the defacto point guard and gave him a centre in Domantas Sabonis that would help unlock his full potential. For Indiana, they got their face of the franchise and a transformative superstar that they’re now set on building a team around. 

At the end of the day, both teams have seen drastic improvements and look like contenders for years to come, whereas prior to the deal, both looked stuck in the mud. Teams with good players but without direction. 

This new blockbuster trade between the Raptors and Knicks follows a similar pattern. Of two teams that have an idea of what they want to be, but understand that certain roadblocks on their respective rosters prevent them from getting there. In Toronto, the current core had already seemingly hit their ceiling, and it wasn’t anything pretty. But more concerning was their contract situation this upcoming summer, with two of those core members set for big paydays. In New York meanwhile, the Knicks had also peaked as a team on the doorstep to contention, but were unable to get past the true juggernauts in the East. In response, their name constantly popped up in rumoured searches for stars. 

How this elevates both sides is up for debate until we see a finished product on the court, but as it stands, the deal looks like a win-win. We’ve dove into how Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett will fit with the Raptors going forward, but ahead of their debut against the Minnesota Timberwolves, here’s a look at how OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn will fit with the Knicks. 

You can watch the Knicks face off against the Timberwolves on Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet+ at 3:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 p.m. PT.

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OG Anunoby

Anunoby is the exact type of player the New York Knicks needed. Though their name is always mentioned as a team on the lookout for superstars, getting a complimentary, versatile, and perfect plug-and-play guy, especially in a mid-season trade, could just outright be a better option altogether. 

Adding Donovan Mitchell to a team is great in theory. You get a guy averaging 28 points on 48 per cent from the field and 37 per cent from deep over his last two seasons. But in reality, you get a guy that gets cooked by Jalen Brunson every year and you lose to the Knicks in the first round of the playoffs.

In all seriousness, bringing in a superstar who intrinsically alters the way your team is built forces changes to not only the scheme but to the philosophy. That’s not something the Knicks should be in the market for as of now, considering how much more stable they’ve looked since adding Brunson.

By adding Anunoby, there’s no need to drastically alter their scheme, as they’re bringing in a guy that fulfills RJ Barrett’s role but to a more efficient capacity while adding that much more on the defensive end. 

More than that though, is that Anunoby might be one of the best plug-and-play guys in the entire league. He’s the Ty Dolla $ign of the NBA – has never really had his own breakout hit, but might be the best feature artist of all time, able to hop on any track, flow on any beat, without disrupting the rhythm and sound of the original track. Does your team need a spot-up shooter? Well in Anunoby you’ve got one of the best corner three-point shooters in the entire league. Do you need someone that can get to the rim as a cutter or driver? Well, he finishes 73 per cent of his looks in the restricted area. 

He’s an additive player who won’t disrupt what’s already in place and instead functions as a complimentary piece to guys like Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle. He also won’t take the ball away from either of them, as his usage percentage is a lowly 18.1 per cent as compared to Barrett’s 27.0 this season, all while only scoring three fewer points a game at 15.1 points to Barrett’s 18.2.

This isn’t to take anything away from Barrett; rather, Anunoby is a better fit for a guy like Brunson who has proved that when the offence is running through him, this team can go far. The fact that Brunson’s usage percentage is only at 28.7 this season, just 1.7 per cent higher than Barrett’s, shows that this offence might not be running at the capacity that it could with a more complimentary player for the breakout point guard. 

Anunoby is also a more reliable kick-out option, knocking down 38.8 per cent of his catch-and-shoot threes and 43.9 per cent of his shots from the corner. The grand majority of his makes from deep have also been on kick-outs, with 95.1 per cent of his looks this season being assisted, primarily from Dennis Schroder. Having a more gifted point guard in Brunson dishing him passes, and being part of a more productive offensive unit as a whole in New York, should only help elevate Anunoby’s numbers. 

What hasn’t been said defensively about Anunoby? The biggest aspect of his plug-and-play ability is his world-breaking defensive capability. There aren’t many wings in the league that can truly defend one through five the way he can. 

So far this season, we’ve seen him match up against guys like Luka Doncic, DeMar DeRozan and Donovan Mitchell, then the next game take on guys like Victor Wembanyama, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic, all while holding them below their season-averages from the field. 

The Knicks are currently in the bottom third of the league defensively, something that head coach Tom Thibodeau, who has made his mark on that end, likely isn’t all too happy about. But considering the personnel in their starting five, it wasn’t all too shocking. 

Brunson and Randle have never been positives on defence, and Quentin Grimes has been lacklustre after showing flashes on that end last season. In recent days, Thibodeau has opted to go with Donte DiVincenzo starting at the two, but the “Big Ragu” alone isn’t enough to carry the unit. 

Bringing Anunoby into the fold is as big an upgrade as you can get on that end, as the All-Defence candidate will spearhead a team that can let Josh Hart and DiVincenzo settle into more secondary defensive roles. 

Moreover, should the Knicks be able to re-sign Anunoby this off-season, (he has a player option for next season that he’s likely to decline, and will instead become an unrestricted free agent), they’ll get to pair him with the talented paint protector Mitchell Robinson after he suffered a season-ending ankle injury, putting on paper what could be one of the most fearsome defensive tandems in the league. 

Precious Achiuwa

Speaking of Mitchell Robinson, with the big man out for the rest of the year, the Knicks are suddenly in need of depth at both the four and five. 

Though Achiuwa might not have had the best time in Toronto, he was a semi-frequent starter for the team in the 2021-22 season when the team was lacking any real seven-footer and was able to give the team solid minutes, scoring 9.1 points and grabbing 8.1 assists in his 28 starts. 

New York had to recently sign free agent Taj Gibson, a Tom Thibodeau favourite, to eat up minutes at the four and five when Randle or Isaiah Hartenstein come off the floor. A 38-year-old Taj Gibson should not be playing real minutes for a contending team in 2023, let alone 2024. We can’t all be LeBron James. 

Those minutes should now belong to Achiuwa, as long as the 24-year-old plays somewhere between his peaks and deep, deep valleys. 

The fourth-year forward has had flashes so far this year, such as his 17-point, 10-rebound game against Charlotte on Dec. 8 or his 14-point, 10-rebound (six offensive rebounds) game against Phoenix on Nov. 29, but these have been more the exception than the rule. He’s averaging 7.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists on the year, while putting up .459/.277/.571 shooting splits as well as the second-worst effective field goal percentage of his career at a rough .497.

Regardless, the Knicks need someone to give them better minutes than Taj Gibson and Jericho Sims, and getting someone with the ceiling Achiuwa has shown is a solid bet. He’s also a restricted free agent after this season, so they have the option to either match another team’s offer should they want to keep him, or they can let him walk and he’ll be off the books next year. 

Malachi Flynn

Malachi Flynn, like Achiuwa, is a solid depth add for the Knicks here. 

In losing Immanuel Quickley as part of the return package, New York gave up a sixth-man of the year candidate and a more than good enough player to supplant the minutes that Brunson takes off. 

Though Flynn likely won’t produce anything close to what Quickley did for the Knicks, having him gives them another option alongside Miles McBride (who they extended on a three-year, $13-million deal right after making the trade) to help stabilize the bench unit, which could be important for the regular season especially. 

Flynn has had an increased role this year with the Raptors under Darko Rajakovic and is hitting at career marks from the field (40.9) and from three-point range (35.0). He’s also gotten more looks than usual, having appeared in all 31 of the Raptors games this season before being traded, the most appearances he’s had at this point in the year through the first four seasons of his career. 

Whether that’s because of a higher degree of trust in the 25-year-old guard, or simply a necessity for backup minutes at the point, having someone like him that can eat a few innings and not lose you games is helpful for a contending team like the Knicks. 

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