OG Anunoby has surfaced as a speculative target in San Antonio Spurs news, with Grant Hughes listing him as a possible trade fit even while calling the idea one of the least likely outcomes. The framing matters because it turns a simple rumor into a question of how far New York would go to trim salary after finally winning a title.
That search interest is easy to understand. After 53 years, James Dolan delivered a championship to New York, but the celebration now sits beside a colder calculation: the Knicks reportedly have no interest in paying the penalties that come with the second apron. Moving OG's contract could be one path out of that zone, and that is why his name keeps coming up whenever the roster is discussed.
The mechanics are what make the idea feel real, even if the odds do not. A deal could be built around Luke Kornet and Keldon Johnson, along with a couple of picks, to help New York shed salary. That would also give the Knicks a cleaner financial lane while giving the Spurs a player in OG who fits the kind of upgrade teams chase when they think they are closer than the standings say.
Johnson is the name that makes the hypothetical easier to picture for New York. He was described as having shown his fullest potential in 2022 as the lead man, when he was putting up 20 points a night, and that kind of scoring touch is exactly why he would draw interest in a swap like this. He could slide into the starting lineup and give New York another scorer, which is the kind of return that makes a salary dump look less like a reset and more like a trade-off.
But the same details that make the idea tidy on paper also make it fragile in practice. The Spurs and Knicks were described as having battled in the NBA Finals, yet the trade discussion is still driven by speculation, not movement, and by a Knicks cap problem that may not force a dramatic answer. If New York truly wants to stay away from second-apron penalties, it will have to decide whether OG is the piece it can live without or whether this is just the sort of rumor that sounds cleaner than the deal it would take to complete it.
