It appears the New York Knicks have managed to avoid the worst-case scenario when it comes to their best new midseason acquisition, starting with small forward OG Anunoby. Late in the first half of the club’s 105-93 final victory over the lowly Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, Anunoby appeared to re-aggravate his surgically enhanced shooting elbow while intercepting a pass to Portland’s center at max salary , Deandre Ayton. He screamed and grabbed his elbow, leaving the game to be examined by the New York training staff. He previously missed 18 games with an elbow injury earlier this season.
Anunoby chose to play despite the pain. He returned to action during the second half of the game and helped propel the Knicks to the W. He scored 12 points while shooting 5 of 11 from the field and pulled down nine rebounds to boot. By Fred Katz of The AthleticNew York’s fourth-year head coach Tom Thibodeau revealed that Anunoby would deal with soreness for a while, but managed to avoid a serious injury.
“There will be times where there will be pain,” Thibodeau said. “He played until the end. He was fine. The doctor looked at him. There will be times where he gets hit and you just try to keep going.”
“It’s just painful,” Anunoby said. “Nothing happened. I just went to get a ball, and it randomly hurt, but it’s okay… I haven’t done it in a while… I’m getting used to it .You can’t recreate that in return.play and practice.
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“I feel like if he got hurt, he wouldn’t play. I think a lot of us have a mindset like that,” the optimistic All-Star Knicks point guard noted. Jalen Brunson. “But he went back out there, so that’s a telling sign. He’s tough, and obviously we want the best for everyone. We want everyone to be healthy first and foremost. But I mean , if you go back there, that means you’re okay. Things are going to happen. You’re going to get banged up.”
The 6’7″ 3-and-D swingman from Indiana, along with forward Precious Achiuwa and guard Malachi Flynn (who has since been traded to the Detroit Pistons), was traded from the Toronto Raptors to New York as part of a deal for that. Former Knicks lottery pick RJ Barrett, point guard Immanuel Quickley and a future second-round draft pick headed north. In his first 14 games with the club, he helped New York to a 12-2 record. Anunoby missed the next 18 games with his first elbow ailment, which required surgery. He had just returned Tuesday for a resounding 106-79 victory over a Philadelphia 76ers club without Joel Embiid.
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