OG Anunoby helped ensure LeBron James wouldn’t be coming to New York this summer.
Now he could be the first Knick asked to stop him.
The defending NBA champion New York Knicks will open the 2026-27 season against James and the Philadelphia 76ers at Madison Square Garden, turning ring night into an immediate test against one of their biggest Eastern Conference threats.
For Anunoby, who plays the same forward position as James and figures to draw plenty of the defensive assignment, there is another layer to the matchup.
“I mean, anytime you get to play against a player like LeBron, it’s an honor, especially because he might retire pretty soon,” Anunoby told Bleacher Report. “So, it’ll be pretty cool.”
Anunoby wasn’t finished praising New York’s opening-night opponent.
“They’re a great team with a lot of great players,” he said. “They’ve added a lot of guys this summer. And they’re very well coached, Nick Nurse. So I think it’ll be a really fun opening night.”
OG Anunoby Helped Close Door on LeBron James
The irony surrounding the matchup stretches back to the Knicks’ championship run.
Rich Paul, James’ longtime agent, revealed on his Game Over podcast with Max Kellerman that New York would have been James’ choice this summer had the Knicks fallen short of winning the NBA championship.
“If the Knicks hadn’t won, there would be no board,” Paul said. “He’d be going to the Knicks.”
Anunoby, as much as anyone, helped make sure James never had the opportunity to take his place in the Knicks’ championship frontcourt.
His defining moment came in Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.
With New York trailing 106-105 in the closing seconds, Jalen Brunson missed a 3-pointer. Anunoby crashed toward the basket and tipped in the miss with 1.2 seconds remaining, completing a historic comeback from 29 points down and giving the Knicks a 107-106 victory.
The basket gave New York a commanding 3-1 series lead. The Knicks finished the job in Game 5 to capture their first championship since 1973.
Anunoby’s fingertips didn’t just help deliver one of the biggest victories in franchise history. In retrospect, they also helped alter James’ offseason.
Ring Night Comes With LeBron Twist
James ultimately landed in Philadelphia, setting up an opening-night matchup loaded with storylines.
Anunoby will receive his championship ring. The Knicks will raise another banner into the Madison Square Garden rafters. Nurse, who coached Anunoby for six seasons in Toronto and won the 2019 championship with him, will be on the opposite sideline.
And then there is James.
Anunoby’s comment that the 41-year-old “might retire pretty soon” underscores the significance of every remaining meeting with a player whose career has spanned more than two decades.
For years, New York wondered whether James might someday call Madison Square Garden home.
According to his own agent, it nearly happened this summer.
Instead, the Knicks won the championship. Anunoby produced one of the defining plays of that title run. And the possibility disappeared.
Now James will walk into the Garden on ring night wearing a 76ers uniform.
And Anunoby, whose game-winning tip helped put him there instead of New York, could be waiting across from him.
Knicks’ OG Anunoby Makes Telling LeBron James Retirement Comment