Free agent forward OG Anunoby intends to sign a five-year, $212.5 million contract to return to the New York Knicks, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The deal will include a player option and a trade kicker, sources said.
The Knicks acquired Anunoby in a trade at the start the 2024 calendar year, sending out RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley as New York was looking to get bigger on the wing. He will now join Mikal Bridges — whom the Knicks acquired Tuesday night in a deal with the Brooklyn Nets — in a revamped starting lineup heading into next season.
Anunoby helped the Knicks tear through the competition in the weeks after landing in New York, as the team went 12-2 in the 14 games he played before both he and Julius Randle suffered injuries against the Miami Heat on Jan. 27.
After that, Anunoby, who will turn 27 on July 17, was mostly injured, sitting out 27 of New York’s next 30 games with an elbow issue before suffering a hamstring injury against the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Long considered one of the league’s premier perimeter defenders, Anunoby — who averaged 14.7 points and 4.2 rebounds in 50 games between the Knicks and Toronto Raptors this past season — has also turned himself into a quality 3-point shooter, hitting 38% of his attempts on more than five of them per game this past season.
Across the 33 games he played for New York in the regular season and playoffs combined, the Knicks went 27-6.
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps contributed to this report.
Source: www.espn.com