Because he plays for the Toronto Raptors, O.G. Anunoby has played at least 38 minutes in a game 59 times in his career. The fewest triples he ever attempted in so many minutes is two, coming most recently in a late February game against the Detroit Pistons. The six points he scored is also tied for the fewest he’s scored in his career while playing so many minutes.
Anunoby had just returned from a sprained left wrist, and his jumper hadn’t been falling. He shot 1-for-8 from deep in his first game back prior to the Pistons contest. He has previously suffered from ankle and hip soreness in the season. After the Pistons game, he attempted two triples once again, scoring just seven points.
The stretch was perhaps the low-point of the season for Anunoby, who has had a strange campaign. He (or his camp) in some ways seemed to lobby for more offensive responsibilities before the season. How did Nick Nurse and the Raptors respond? By (again, seeming to) allocating more shots and usage to Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam — Anunoby’s frontcourt partners — and fewer to Anunoby himself. That’s not necessarily bad for the Raptors (although it’s worth mentioning Anunoby has the highest effective field goal percentage of the three), and Siakam and Barnes have done quite a bit to earn added usage. Regardless, the optics have been strange. And for a stretch — again, coinciding with a return from injury — Anunoby played with less intensity and impact on the game than fans have become accustomed from the forward.
That stretch ended very quickly. Whatever questions the Raptors might have had of Anunoby have been answered and then some in more recent games. It hasn’t been consistent, but he’s reached his peak more frequently. Against the Chicago Bulls, he scored 17 efficient points while locking up DeMar DeRozan. The highlight came late as Anunoby caught the ball in the post, turned, ripped, drove, and dunked the ball through traffic.
Then 26 efficient points against the Washington Wizards (in a loss) while guarding Bradley Beal. Six points while shooting 0-for-6 from deep against the Wizards in the next contest. Shooting 3-of-6 from deep against the Denver Nuggets while guarding Nikola Jokic. Then 18 points against the Los Angeles Clippers while guarding Kawhi Leonard, and 31 against the Los Angeles Lakers — while guarding Anthony Davis — on only 14 shots.
There are a number of corollaries to this run. On one hand, no one has a more difficult defensive assignment night in and night out. Anunoby is the only player in the league who has this season been his team’s primary defender for both Beal and Jokic in separate games, and he did it in back-to-back games while corralling DeRozan, Leonard, and Davis in surrounding contests! Lots of players have to guard opposing stars. Few guard stars across multiple positions. Virtually none guard stars across every position. Anunoby has done just that.
Oh, and you know what else he did while guarding them? A fucking good job:
But that’s not the only component of this run for Anunoby. He’s been shooting over 40 percent from deep and over 85 percent from the line. (He is now shooting better from deep this season than he did in 2021-22.) Against the the Lakers, he was extraordinary shooting from deep, attacking the rim with patience and balance, and hitting virtually everything he threw at the rim. He’s looking healthier, more accurate on his jumpers and around the rim, and more in control of his offensive contributions. He cleanly and easily finished a few lobs against the Lakers that in past months this season would have been circus shots.
All that has combined to mean Anunoby has become, once again, foundational on a Raptors team that is full of forwards like Anunoby but short on his individual skills. His offensive on/offs on the team are the worst they’ve been over his entire career, at negative-1.7 points per 100 possessions. But over the last six games, the team’s offensive rating has been 114.4 with him on the court and 97.3 with him off. In combination with his defensive on/offs, Anunoby has had the best net marks on the team, just eking out Fred VanVleet and Jakob Poeltl for the honours.
And yet he also seems, by his own inclination or by the team’s, to be increasingly less a crucial component of the offense. Against the Lakers, he was at one point in the third quarter shooting 11-for-11 from the floor. Yet he finished with only 14 shots attempts? Anunoby has been averaging 10.6 shots per game since returning from injury; he hasn’t averaged so few over a season since 2019-20. His usage rate has dropped from last year, even as his true shooting percentage has risen.
Anunoby has virtually stopped running actions for the Raptors. Over the last six games, he has run almost no pick and rolls, posted up only a small handful of times, and virtually never isolated. Again: That’s not necessarily bad for the team. And it’s clear that he’s been successful in his limited role as spot-up shooter, second-side attacker, and cutter. But it’s also probable that such a limited role is not how Anunoby envisioned this season for himself.
Of course, Anunoby has been very successful, and he hasn’t made a public peep of dissatisfaction during the season. He has been a dutiful soldier. But there’s another significant component, even as Anunoby has been thriving as he’s returned to health: The Raptors can’t stop losing.
Toronto is 2-4 over its last six games — despite limiting so many of the opposing stars. And yet Anunoby has won his minutes by 20 points, and he’s been averaging a huge 36.8 minutes per game. (That would rank sixth — and third on the Raptors — in the league if he were averaging that over the full season.) That means the Raptors have lost by 21 points the 67 minutes Anunoby has sat during this run. That’s bad! It serves to show how crucial Anunoby’s two-way value is for a Raptors team lacking both point-of-attack defenders and 3-point shooters.
Of course, the Raptors have been losing with virtually any lineup on that isn’t the traditional starters of VanVleet-Anunoby-Scottie Barnes-Pascal Siakam-Poeltl. There’s a whole other can of worms. But it doesn’t detract from Anunoby’s value.
Where, then, could Anunoby add to his usage? He is the least efficient isolation player in the league, which he was last year as well (but he’s even less efficient this year than last). He’s the 10th-least efficient pick-and-roll ballhandler in the league, only just ahead of Barnes, who ranks 11th. He’s the least efficient post player in the league. Keep in mind the numbers from NBA Advanced Stats only include playtypes that finish possessions, and Anunoby’s ranks and efficiencies in all three areas are better when you account for possessions that he initiates but doesn’t finish. Still, they’re not great.
The Raptors are likely best served limiting Anunoby as a shooter, second-side driver, and cutter. He has absolutely thrived in his smaller role over the last six games. Yet it offers a ceiling to Anunoby’s game, opening up a chicken-and-the-egg situation: He can’t improve as an initiator until he gets in-game reps, yet he can’t get in-game reps until he improves as an initiator. For all that, the Raptors need Anunoby. He remains a huge offensive positive, which pales in comparison to his defense. Still, there’s a tension there that at some point will have to give, one way or another, as Anunoby grows and ages and enters his prime.
