Knicks' OG Anunoby says hamstring injury wasn't as serious as last one

Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News on May 16, 2026

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NEW YORK — OG Anunoby is back to full sprinting and getting up and down the basketball court.

He said the right hamstring strain responsible for sidelining him for Games 3 and 4 of the Knicks’ second-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers wasn’t as severe as the injuries that cost him significant time on the floor before.

“It wasn’t like the previous ones, for sure,” Anunoby told reporters after Knicks practice at the team’s Tarrytown training facility on Saturday. “So, it was better than before.”

Anunoby suffered a significant left hamstring strain in the 2024 Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Pacers. He re-injured the hamstring in November, an injury that cost him nine games of action.

“I never think about the past. Just dealing with it in the moment,” he said on Saturday. “It didn’t feel as bad as it had in the past when it happened.”

Anunoby then strained his right hamstring with just minutes left in the Knicks’ victory over the Sixers in Game 2. He sat out the back two legs of the Knicks’ four-game sweep before returning as a full participant at Knicks practice on Friday.

“He’s been back. He looks good to me,” Mikal Bridges said on Saturday. “So, I think maybe the crowd, maybe the fans and media worried a little bit more, but I know how OG works and how his body is. I think he’ll be all right.”

Anunoby averaged 21 points on better than 60% shooting from the field and 58% shooting from 3-point range before his injury. It appears he is on track to return to the lineup for Game 1 of the conference finals against either the Detroit Pistons or Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.

If the Pistons win, the series will begin in Detroit. If the Cavaliers pull the Game 7 upset, Game 1 will play out at Madison Square Garden.

“I think everyone’s excited for the games to start, so just letting the other series play out,” Anunoby said. “So if it was tomorrow — it’s going to be Tuesday now — just be ready whenever it is.”

ECF opponent

The Knicks have gone longer than a week without knowing their conference finals opponent. They were also the first Eastern Conference team to advance past the first round, defeating the Atlanta Hawks in six games while all other opening-round East series went to Game 7.

The Pistons swept the regular-season series against the Knicks, 3-0, with a combined margin of victory of 93 points — including a 15-point win with both Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart serving suspensions — while the Knicks won the regular-season slate against the Cavs, 2-1. They lost to Cleveland by 15 in the only game played after the Cavaliers traded Darius Garland to the Los Angeles Clippers for James Harden.

“I’m super honored to say this is my third straight consecutive conference finals but in the last two conference finals, it’s been teams we’ve had a lot of success against in the regular season and found ourselves losing in the conference finals,” said Karl-Anthony Towns. “You cannot see anything as an opportunity — ‘Oh, well the regular season said we had success, so it should translate in the postseason.’ It doesn’t work like that.”

Brown getting flashbacks

Knicks coach Mike Brown said watching the Cavs-Pistons series gives him flashbacks of his time coaching LeBron James to his first ever NBA Finals in 2007. Brown recalled LeBron scoring roughly 24 straight points, and when the Pistons called a timeout, one of Brown’s assistants suggested the head coach take control of a huddle LeBron had in command.

“I was like, ‘There’s no way in hell I’m going in that huddle to tell him anything right now the way he’s cooking, I’m just gonna let him cook. I’m not saying anything to him,’ ” Brown recalled. “And he went out there and he just — he was amazing. That was the best seat in the house to watch.”