The Indiana product got a four-year, $9 million contract when he signed a long-term deal with the Toronto Raptors. During his time in Toronto, he was a role player who didn’t see quality starting minutes with the team that drafted him.
However, Anunoby steadily improved until he eventually outgrew the contract Toronto gave him. His final year with the team saw him shipped to the Knicks and the Raptors began a full-scale rebuild of their roster.
In the fifty games Anunoby has played this season, he has averaged 14.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists on 48.9% shooting and 38.2% from three. His numbers are good enough to attract the attention of other teams interested in his services.
Heavy Sports’ Sean Deveney spoke with an NBA executive and weighed in on the relationship between the Knicks and the Indiana product in the summer:
“If you’re the Knicks, you hope this thing hits $35 million a year,” one NBA executive told Heavy Sports. “Four years, $140 million. And, in a vacuum, that’s probably where it would land. But OG just needs another team to get involved and raise the price. So you’re going to go from $35 million a year to $45 million a year and maybe all the way up.”
The Knicks will want to do everything they can to keep Anunoby on the team. However, they should be prepared to look for an alternative if they can’t convince him that staying in the Big Apple is the best move for his career.