The New York Knicks will play Game 3 of their second-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers without OG Anunoby, with the forward officially ruled out due to a right hamstring strain that flared up in the closing minutes of Game 2 in Philadelphia.
The injury, first reported by Shams Charania on Thursday morning as day-to-day, escalated through the day on Friday as the Knicks medical staff worked through their assessment. By tip-off, Anunoby was off the floor entirely — a major blow for a New York team that had stretched its playoff winning streak to five before the injury, one shy of the franchise record.
ESPN senior NBA reporter Brian Windhorst, speaking on SportsCenter the day before Game 3, captured why the news landed so heavily inside the Knicks rotation.
"OG is playing some of the best basketball of his career," Windhorst said. "He's arguably been a top-five player in the entire playoff so far, being a leader at both ends of the court."
Windhorst then turned to the medical history that has Knicks fans bracing for a longer absence than the day-to-day designation implies.
"All I can say is this. Earlier this season, OG hurt a hamstring back in November, he missed two weeks. Two years ago, when he injured a hamstring in the playoffs against the Pacers, he missed four games, tried to come back, played a quarter and had to leave. So he unfortunately has a history of hamstring injuries. How bad this is, only the Knicks and their medical staff know, but this is obviously concerning."
The numbers explain why losing Anunoby is so painful for New York. The forward was second on the team in playoff scoring, shooting 64 percent from the field and close to 60 percent from three-point range across the postseason. He had drawn the toughest defensive assignments at the wing, switched fluidly across the perimeter, and given Tom Thibodeau a switchable defender able to chase Tyrese Maxey and bang with Kelly Oubre Jr. in the same possession.
Windhorst acknowledged the silver lining for New York is timing.
"The Knicks are going to have to probably play some time relying on the rest of their players who are all on hot streaks right now. This is a good time to have an injury because they're ahead in the series."
The broader playoff context underlines what is at stake. Teams holding a 2-0 lead in best-of-seven NBA series have gone on to win 92 percent of the time historically, and the Knicks have looked the more cohesive group across both games — including a 108-102 win in Game 2 in which Philadelphia played without Joel Embiid. Two of the three previous times in franchise history that New York has stitched together a five-game playoff winning streak, the Knicks went on to reach the NBA Finals.
Losing Anunoby risks cracking that momentum at the worst possible moment. Game 3 inside Wells Fargo Center will give Philadelphia, with or without Embiid, its first real opening to wrest control of the series. Embiid, listed as questionable, was reportedly trending toward playing, and the Sixers will lean on Maxey, Edgecombe and a healthier-looking Paul George rotation to attack Anunoby's vacated wing minutes.
For the Knicks, the pressure now falls on Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart to absorb extra defensive responsibility while Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson continue to drive the half-court offense. Whether Anunoby can return for a Game 4 swing in Philadelphia remains the open question — and the answer, as Windhorst noted, is one only the team's medical staff currently holds.
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*Originally published on [NBA News](https://nbanews.global/article/og-anunoby-out-game-3-hamstring-strain-knicks-76ers-windhorst-may-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
