The Knicks became a much better team defensively after trading Obi Toppin, Immanuel Quickley, and RJ Barrett in two separate moves.
According to Knicks reporter Steve Popper of Newsday, those twin moves allowed the team to solidify its defensive identity under Tom Thibodeau.
“A team source pointed out that by moving Obi Toppin in the summer, then Barrett and Quickley recently, ‘we got rid of the weakest.’ The Knicks roster is now made up almost entirely of hard-nosed defenders,” Newsday’s Steve Popper wrote on January 13.
The Knicks are by far the best defensive team in the league since the Anunoby trade.