Much of the talk around OG Anunoby ahead of this season is the Knicks forward's potential to be an All-Star in 2026-27. While his scoring hasn't been as hot as his playoff run was, he's off to a very promising start to the campaign, and even showing the areas of his game he could expand for New York this year.

Anunoby nearly recorded a triple-double in New York's loss to Boston, showing some very encouraging signs about him as a growing playmaker in particular.

Diving deep on OG Anunoby's step forward as passer for Knicks so far

Anunoby recorded his highest passing rate game of the last two years against the Celtics. Passing Rate, or Passing Usage, is a stat I track game to game, counting his potential assists, assists, passes leading to scoring turnovers, and free throws. It works as an all-in-one metric that defines how much impact a player has with his passing.

Anunoby typically ranks VERY low in this department among his teammates and other players. He has never been an elite passer or playmaker of any kind, and his passing turnover rate has sat in the lower half among wings, landing in the 14th percentile at his position last season. So this jump in passing volume comes as something of a surprise.

However, good reason exists to explain how it happened, and why it can happen more often.

Here's a play the Knicks ran three times against Boston to get Anunoby on the ball, and they scored on all three chances, which is very promising.

Towns sets a down screen for Anunoby to cut to the left slot. It works much like an "out" play, giving Anunoby an angle in the ball-screen action to drive using his dominant hand (right). The pace is great here, as Towns gets up quickly to set the ball-screen, which deters any chance for Boston to ice it or push the handler to the sideline.

After Anunoby gets into the gap, Brunson can cut through to clear a driving gap while Bridges sets a pin-down on his own to cut off a potential rotation. I saw that pin-down a few times in this game, and it's a great way to cut off defenders once the defense has rotated, much like a cut or a slip.

Paul George forces him left this time, but Anunoby makes a nice read to Towns, who slips out to pop into space. The play works on multiple levels, since the extra gap movement or potential pin-down seal not only helps a drive, but creates off-ball movement for a pop situation. It just takes Anunoby making the play.

It’s important to understand what coverage the opposing big plays in these ball-screen actions so the Knicks can target it. If he drops, as Mitchell Robinson does here, it creates an easy pop or drive opportunity, with the gap taken away. Against OG, I'm not sure we see much high coverage.

Above is simplified read, with the corner movement and pin-down. Anunoby does what he does best off the ball, creating a window to stampede off the catch and draw a foul, something he's gotten better at.

I don't believe Anunoby will ever become a very impactful passer, but he can play within the system well enough to serve as a strong connector.

When he's handling the ball, keeping his reads as simple as possible should stay an underlying goal for the coaching staff, and we saw glimpses of that in the second game of the season. That's especially notable with New York's offense sputtering out of the gate and needing to find ways to get back on track.