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“So, next up on the list: the Knicks made a mistake by getting rid of Tom Thibodeau.” Stan Van Gundy “Yeah, they totally did. That was a big mistake. Tom Thibodeau—one of the best coaches in this league—did an unbelievable job with that team this year. Maximized virtually everyone on their roster. I mean, OG Anunoby—best year of his career. Karl-Anthony Towns—probably the best year of his career. Jalen Brunson, a guy who was what, a 15–16 point-a-game scorer in Dallas, has become a star. Josh Hart went from a backup to a triple-double-type of guy in New York. I mean, he just maximized this roster and took them places they hadn't been in a quarter of a century. And they make a coaching change? Made absolutely no sense to me.”
Grizzlies have been interested in OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Franz Wagner in the past
The Grizzlies — from Mikal Bridges to OG Anunoby to Orlando's own Franz Wagner — have made several aggressive trade pursuits of their own laden with draft capital in recent years, league sources say.
Brian Windhorst: I definitely think he's got interest in the Knicks. He has interest in the Knicks going back six, seven years when he was a free agent in 2019. He chose the Nets, but he's got interest in the Knicks. The reality is this: You're either trading an in-your-prime All-NBA player under long-term controlled contract in Karl Towns or to make the math work and make it a legal trade, you're probably trading three rotation players, two high-level rotation players like an OG Anunoby and a Mitchell Robinson, something like that. And so the Knicks are already short on the rotation players.
Doug Smith: The question is if you think the remaining players will develop, just as that group of Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby and Jakob Poeltl did. Not to that level — that’s a historic young group no one’s come close to matching — but if it can come close, that’s pretty darn good. Again, the odds of doing a Giannis deal are long but the remnants of paying a steep price isn’t too bad.
Now they enter the offseason with Anunoby, Brunson and Hart signed through 2028 and Towns and Miles “Deuce” McBride signed through 2027. Bridges and Robinson are entering the final years of their contracts. It’s too early for them to lock in any major decisions about the roster, though Bridges’ next deal will be a story of the summer. He becomes eligible for a four-year, $156 million extension before next season.
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“Oh yeah, Pascal is a great player,” Anunoby said between the two games in Indiana. “Just after that Game 2, just trying to make it as difficult as possible. Maybe not help as much in certain situations and not give him easy looks or their shots. “Just try to make it as difficult as possible and force him into uncomfortable possessions. Pascal is one of my great friends in the league. We were very close as teammates. He’s a great player and a great person, but we’re competing right now.”
Dustin Dopirak: Rick Carlisle: "It was a very, very tough game. Very competitive game. Some of the shot-making in this series has been really beyond belief. Both teams." (Mentions an unbelievable shot from Anunoby which I also though was unbelievable.)
With the Thunder up 3-1 in the Conference Finals, Hartenstein didn’t want to look ahead to a potential Finals matchup with the Knicks. But he still believes New York had a chance to do something special last season – if healthy. “I think we got unlucky that (OG Anunoby) got hurt," Hartenstein said. "I think we had a chance last year if we had the same team … don’t want to live in the hypothetical, but I felt like when we were all together, we were a really good team.”
“Pascal is a great player,” Anunoby said. “So, just after that Game 2, just trying to make it as difficult as possible. Maybe not help as much in certain situations and not give him easy looks or their shots. Just try to make it as difficult as possible and force him into uncomfortable possessions. Pascal is one of my great friends in the league. We were very close as teammates. He’s a great player and a great person, but we’re competing right now.”
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Karl-Anthony Towns carries Knicks from 20 down to beat Pacers in Game 3
Fred Katz: FINAL: Knicks 106, Pacers 100. Knicks come back from down 20 to narrow Indiana's series lead to 2-1. • Towns 24 & 15 (20 & 8 in 4th Q) • Brunson 23 pts • Anunoby 16 pts • Hart 8-10-4 • Haliburton 20-4-6 Game 4 scheduled for Tuesday night.
Knicks benching Josh Hart for Mitchell Robinson?
Down 2-0 in the conference finals, the New York Knicks are seriously considering a change to their starting lineup for Sunday's Game 3, sources confirmed to ESPN's Shams Charania. Coach Tom Thibodeau is considering moving backup center Mitchell Robinson into the starting five for wing player Josh Hart, sources told Charania. It would mark the first change all season to the Knicks' starting five of Hart, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns when those five are listed as available and healthy.
Law Murray: The New York Knicks were outscored by 20 points with Karl-Anthony Towns on the floor in Game 2 The Knicks 5-man starting lineup of Brunson / Bridges / Hart / Anunoby / Towns was outscored by 13 points in Game 2 and has been outscored by 29 points in the 2025 ECF vs Pacers.
Who do you feel are your comps in the NBA? Rasheer Fleming: I’m really my own player, I feel like. But if I could like see myself being in somebody’s like type of position from watching the playoffs, I could see myself in like the Naz Reid type of role or Jaden McDaniels, like OG Anunoby, those type of guys. Like they kinda do everything on the court, I feel like, for me in that type of position.
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