The atmosphere is electric inside Penske Media’s midtown Manhattan headquarters on a June afternoon.
OG Anunoby has just arrived for his FN cover shoot, 12 days after the New York Knicks delivered the ultimate triumph and won their first NBA Finals in 53 years.
With expressions of shock and awe, several building employees immediately take notice of the quiet force, who’s tall in stature but surprisingly unassuming. Anunoby is still trying to adapt to his newfound fame, but that doesn’t stop a superfan from moving right in and asking for a selfie near the elevator.
Upstairs, the crew is equally mesmerized as the shoot prep begins. When Anunoby previews the fashion on set, the baller is immediately open to experimenting, gravitating to his well-loved Stone Island streetwear and Balenciaga’s vibrant orange coat from Pierpaolo Piccioli’s fall 2026 collection.
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But the real star of the show is his viral Skechers SKX Nexus “NYC Blue” shoes, which sit like a museum piece on the table before Anunoby slips them on for the cover shot.
As the cameras roll, Anunoby’s dry wit immediately shines through. Being a man of few words doesn’t hinder his sense of humor. In fact, it only bolsters it.
“It’s really cool. Super cool,” Anunoby says, with his signature brevity, when asked about former President Barack Obama lionizing him a day earlier.
Most of Anunoby’s answers follow suit, save for a few questions, including one about which of his teammates has the best style.
In this moment, he can’t resist taking a shot.
“I don’t admire anyone’s style on the Knicks. I think no one has a good style besides me. No one has good shoes. No one has good anything,” he says cheekily.
A few minutes later, Anunoby has seemingly reconsidered and does give kudos to one teammate: “Landry Shamet is my friend, and he does a good job. He dresses cool.”
While the team’s fashion cred might be debatable, their incredible performance is undisputable.
And all eyes are on OG this summer after the forward cemented the biggest comeback in NBA finals history when he made the winning shot in game four. His streak in the rest of the five-game series was equally as impressive. The quiet force put up an average of 21.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game, on an astonishing 52.5 percent shooting percentage and 50 percent on 3-pointers.
“Being a champion and seeing how much the title meant to the city and fans in New York has been fun,” Anunoby says. “I’ve had countless people stop me to just tell me thank you.”
After his FN shoot, Anunoby heads uptown to Skechers’ New York City showroom for a meet-and-greet with local kids, cohosted with the Garden of Dreams Foundation, Children’s Aid and SCAN-Harbor. Each child in attendance asks preapproved questions from note cards, but eventually the inquiries go off-script, highlighting the bluntness that so often comes with youth.
“You don’t smile much,” one youngster says. “My question: Having 33 points in [Madison Square Garden] isn’t reason to smile?”
Anunoby initially defends himself, noting he smiles often and is smiling now. But the kid doubles down, citing the seven 3-pointers among his 33 points in the Knicks’ record comeback from a 29-point deficit. “OK, I didn’t smile then,” Anunoby says. “Afterward I did a little bit.”
One of those smiles could be seen in the post-game conference for game four, when he drew laughs from the press pool for his understated assessment of how it felt to hit a game-winner in the NBA Finals: “It feels cool. Everybody’s pretty excited. I’m excited, too.”
More often than not, Anunoby’s answers are equally short and borderline emotionless — to the point where a writer for The Athletic opened a column after game four by asking, “How much of this is a shtick?”
If it is a bit, it’s quite funny. But the nonchalance is also indicative of how locked-in Anunoby is, how much the end goal triumphs any smaller triumphs along the way.
“The series was still going on, and we still had one more game to win,” Anunoby says, looking back on the presser. “I was just being focused on winning the last game, the close-out game, and not being too excited too early.”
There are other flashes of humor to be found when spending time with the player, such as a mock expression of fear when the lights go out during his photo shoot, and his assertion that he calms himself down by eating fruit.
With or without fructose, Anunoby’s composure during games comes naturally. He said he’s not sure if it’s because of how he was raised but that he’s always been “pretty reserved and calm.”
The Road to the Championship
Anunoby’s newfound fame has been evident in every corner of the city. He was honored with a street sign at Sixth Avenue and West 8th Street that matched his jersey number. He threw out the first pitch at a New York Mets game. And ESPN gave him the ESPY “Best Play” award last month.
Some people don’t realize that the 2026 title is actually the second of Anunoby’s career — his former team, the Toronto Raptors, won in his second year as a professional. But he didn’t play at all in those 2019 playoffs because of an emergency appendectomy late in the regular season.
Still, as part of that team, Anunoby became the first British player to win the NBA’s ultimate prize.
He was born in London to Nigerian parents, his father a university professor and his mother a sprinter and jumper for the Nigerian national team. His mom passed away when he was just a year old, and three years later, his dad would take him to Jefferson City, Mo., after accepting a position at Lincoln University.
Although he’s spent most of his life in America, Anunoby remains proudly British. His World Cup allegiance was with England, and he spoke of his desire to see English striker and fellow Skechers athlete Harry Kane play in person.
One of the things he’s been looking forward to most in the off season is visiting London as part of a tour with Skechers. Anunoby is passionate about empowering young players on his home turf.
“The talent in the U.K. has always been there; they just haven’t always had the infrastructure or visibility to support it,” Anunoby said. “It’s inspiring to see how this generation has embraced basketball as a primary sport. The key is access. More courts, more coaching at the grassroots level and access to players paving the way for the next generation.”
This week, he will hold court at the OG Anunoby Basketball Camp and plans to meet with London officials to start the process of renovating a basketball court in Camden.
“Refurbishing a basketball court and facility for athletes to play in London, and specifically in Camden, is very exciting and personal for me. I want to show kids that dedication and hard work on something you love can truly be a game changer. Basketball can lead to a career, an education, or it can be a path to community and a way to connect with others,” he said.
Access to different sports — and strong genetics, thanks to his athletic mother — helped pave the way for Anunoby’s NBA career. His older brother Chigbo played in the NFL, and the younger Anunoby also played football as a kid but quit to focus on basketball full time because of how tall he was. (Today, at 6 feet, 7 inches, OG now stands 4 inches taller than his brother, and his wingspan reaches another 7 inches, at 7 feet, 2 inches.)
By the time he was a senior in high school, Anunoby’s path became even clearer. The rising star was a finalist for Missouri’s Mr. Basketball honor and was awarded a scholarship to Indiana University.
Despite competing just one season in college before missing his entire sophomore year with a knee injury, Anunoby was selected by the Raptors with the number 23 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft and would play with the team for six seasons as the well-rounded and gritty swingman.
Anunoby has gradually established himself as the league’s premier 3-and-D competitor. Such a player is an essential ingredient to championship teams, and the Knicks made a game-changing trade to nab Anunoby in 2023. The next two post seasons would end at the hands of the Indiana Pacers, including the Knicks’ first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in a quarter century last year. But those heartbreaks helped set the stage for June’s triumph.
“For sure, it was necessary,” Anunoby said. “We would rather have just won every single year. But sometimes, it doesn’t work out that way.
You can learn through defeat or setbacks, and I think we learned a lot from last year and carried it into this season.”
If Jalen Brunson is the star of these Knicks, Anunoby is the team’s X factor. It’s not as glamorous locking down opponents’ best players or knocking down shots as the second or third scoring option. But he’s won over New York fans with his reliability and quiet confidence.
The workhorse has also aligned himself with the city’s signature work boot. During the championship season, he was routinely awarded the Knicks’ Timberland “Wheat” boot, branded with “DPOG” for defensive player of the game. Once he made it to the NBA Finals, Anunoby got a surprise from Skechers — a player-exclusive colorway of the SKX Nexus, fashioned in the style of the suede boot.
“They looked lovely,” Anunoby said. “I’m excited to wear them next year, and I’ll work out in them in the summer and hopefully get some more pairs.”
Skechers Scores
The second title of Anunoby’s career also came with a first; no player had ever won the NBA Finals wearing Skechers. In fact, the Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based brand entered the basketball performance category just three years ago.
Seeds were planted for the relationship when Anunoby was still playing with the Raptors. He had noticed Skechers shoes on the feet of Julius Randle, then a Knick. They then became teammates, and the future signee liked what he heard when he began asking questions about Randle’s shoes.
“I tried a pair on, liked how they felt and then kept Skechers in the back of my mind,” Anunoby said.
The athletic brand, known for its marketing prowess and ability to own big moments, has made the most of Anunoby’s run. His signature shoe was announced two days after the Larry O’Brien trophy was presented, and within a week, the company announced preorders for the player-exclusive blue and orange sneakers he debuted in game four.
Tens of thousands of people signed up just for notifications for the preorder, and once the slots opened, they were all taken within hours.
“Having a player who played such a pivotal role in a championship win as the face of our brand is extraordinary,” said Skechers president and cofounder Michael Greenberg. “It’s the kind of moment that validates everything you’ve been building. We were already incredibly proud to have OG as part of the Skechers family, but watching him help the Knicks secure a victory was something else entirely. To me, it felt like a win for us, for our product team, and for everyone who believed in him.”
Both the player and his sponsor said it was too early to talk details of the signature shoe, but Anunoby did say what his priorities are: color, lightness and sturdiness. And “comfort” because that’s a staple of Skechers. “All the shoes are comfortable, so that’s a given,” he said.
Also revealed during the NBA Finals was Anunoby’s signature logo, a number eight made up of an interlocking “O” and “G.” Unlike many other athletes with brand deals, the trademark was registered in his name rather than Skechers. Anunoby said he enjoyed the process of creating it and is looking forward to using it in other endeavors, including his philanthropic projects.
“He’s certainly a brand in and of himself. He’s very protective of it, and we love doing business with him. So yeah, he should have it,” said David Weinberg, Skechers’ chief operating officer.
Another admirer within the family is ambassador Martha Stewart, who expressed how much she loved Anunoby’s shoes during the playoffs and was rewarded during the finals with a signed pair. “I’ve been a fan of the Knicks since the 1970s, and every year there are standout players that I put on my hero worship list,” Stewart said. “This year OG joined that list.”
Anunoby said she’ll be on the top of his seeding list come time for his signature shoe.
Looking at the whole package, Greenberg said: “OG’s personality is genuinely one of a kind. The combination of being reserved, genuine, witty and deeply authentic is a big part of why fans don’t just admire him; they truly connect with him on a personal level.”
And there’s no doubt his commitment to the brand is a big advantage. When asked what his life would look like five years from now, Anunoby simply said, “In five years, that would be the 2030-31 season. I’ll be playing basketball in Skechers, of course.”
