There have been recent reports indicating that OG Anunoby is not happy with the current offer the New York Knicks have on the table for him as he heads into unrestricted free agency, but the current thought is that he still re-signs with the Knicks.
“The Knicks, despite some recent murmurs about OG Anunoby considering his options elsewhere, have been painted as a strong favorite to re-sign the former Toronto Raptor since acquiring him in late December,” Marc Stein wrote in his newsletter.
The Knicks acquired OG Anunoby in a trade with the Toronto Raptors in late December, sending Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett and draft compensation to Toronto to complete the deal. New York has all of the incentives in the world to do what it can to retain Anunoby, as it would be a tough look to lose out on him after giving up those assets to acquire him.
Anunoby is represented by CAA and he has Sam Rose as one of his agents, the son of Knicks president Leon Rose. Given the ties the Knicks front office has to CAA, and the desire to keep Anunoby, it would be a shock if they were not able to retain him. That thought prevailed for many, even with the reports that he was unhappy with the way negotiations were going. It might take another team bidding up Anunoby's price to get the Knicks to offer something that would make him happy, but that would require him to hit the open market to get an offer from another team to create leverage with the Knicks.
It will be interesting to see if the Knicks are able to retain Anunoby. He is a key part of the team, and was viewed as part of the future when he was acquired, despite only having one year left on his contract. Retaining Anunoby is a vital part of the Knicks' offseason plan.
What is the Knicks' goal this offseason?
The Knicks are intent on retaining Anunoby and center Isaiah Hartenstein, going by reports. It seems that the Knicks feel good about their ability to keep Anunoby, and the same goes for Isaiah Hartenstein, but there are other teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder or Orlando Magic who could beat New York's offer financially.
After acquiring Anunoby, the Knicks looked like one of the best teams in the NBA in January up until Julius Randle suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. It is understandable for the Knicks to want to run that back, because what they saw in that short sample was very good.
New York likely will be opportunistic if a superstar becomes available, but it is unknown whether or not that will happen this summer.
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