Raptors officially fleece Knicks as final details emerge from OG Anunoby trade

The Toronto Raptors have to be feeling good about the OG Anunoby trade.

They felt pretty good in the weeks immediately after the December trade, when Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett were balling out and there was genuine chemistry forming between them and Scottie Barnes. Injuries disrupted everything about the last two months of the season, but Toronto picked up two legitimate starters and building blocks of the future in the deal.

The last two days, however, have only cemented how much the Raptors won the trade by putting into place the last details of the deal. First, the New York Knicks re-signed OG Anunoby, avoiding the worst-case scenarios of him walking in free agency to sign with another team. The leverage that OG had, because of how much the Knicks gave up and especially after New York traded for Mikal Bridges, allowed him to negotiate a truly lucrative new contract.

Anunoby will make $207 million over the next five years, not quite the maximum that he could make but a truly staggering amount for a player who has never been an All-Star nor even been particularly close. He is a low-usage 3-and-D player — the very best version of such a player, of course, someone who can fit in around other stars, but not a star himself.

By contrast, Immanuel Quickley is a budding star, a point guard with plenty of shift and scoring ability and a deadly 3-point shot of his own. He’ll almost certainly make less on his next contract than Anunoby, and he has a ceiling multiple stories higher than Anunoby. And that doesn’t even factor in the value that RJ Barrett brings as a shot creator and playmaker himself.

The final piece of the deal was put into place on Thursday when the Raptors drafted San Francisco forward Jonathan Mogbo. The 6’7″ prospect is a childhood friend of Scottie Barnes and one of the best rebounders in the draft, and all reports are that he is a relentless worker who will not only push to improve himself but motivate his teammates to do the same.

The Knicks got a really good player in the trade but were then forced to overpay him, a decision that won’t kill them in the short term but could look really bad in five years when Anunoby is 33 years old and not the same defender that he is now.

The Raptors, on the other hand, have three different players. They got a difference-maker at point guard in Immanuel Quickley with miles of untapped potential, a hometown wing in RJ Barrett who played the best basketball of his career in Toronto, and a locker-room warrior and prospect with upside in Jonathan Mogbo.

If the Knicks win a championship with this group it will certainly be worth it, but as things stand right now the verdict is clear: the Toronto Raptors have won this trade.