TORONTO – Monday night was emblematic of the big trade of nearly a year ago.

RJ Barrett led all scorers. He was about to complete a revenge game.

But then the player the Knicks got instead – OG Anunoby – came up with the game-winning play, a block on Barrett with 26 seconds left.

The Raptors lost.

The Knicks won 113-108.

Barrett finished the game with 30 points but couldn’t get the point that mattered most. He drove to the basket with the Raptors down two in the final seconds and was beaten from behind by Anunoby.

Karl-Anthony Towns, who struggled most of the night, knocked down the two most important shots – a layup off a nice feed from Jalen Brunson for the lead with 36 seconds left, then the dagger trey that followed Anunoby’s block on Barrett.

It saved the Knicks (14-9) from an ugly loss to the struggling Raptors (7-18). And it capped a big night for a former Knick.

Barrett has had the best performance of his career this season, which he believes is due to playing in a faster system with more options on the ball. Barrett revealed before Monday’s game that he was excited about the trade when it happened. He had received indications from the Knicks that he was no longer in their plans.

“A lot of stuff (made me feel like I was going to get traded). “A lot of stuff,” Barrett said Monday after taking a deep breath. “I think I just got a vibe, kind of thought. I wasn’t really surprised when it happened.”

Unspoken but likely a factor was that Barrett had risen from future leader of the franchise to a distant third place on the totem pole under Julius Randle and especially Brunson. By playing Barrett and Immanuel Quickley for Anunoby, the Knicks created a lineup that gave Brunson the ball and further increased his stardom.

The deal worked as intended. At least for the Knicks. Anunoby, who finished with 14 points in 41 minutes in his first game at Scotia Bank Arena, proved he is a defender who can be effective offensively even without the ball. Brunson became an All-Star.

“OG was different,” Thibodeau said. “His versatility and size were something we were looking for.”

For the Raptors, the sentiment surrounding the trade on their one-year anniversary is more complicated. On the one hand, the team was in the midst of a rebuild and had little use for Anunoby, who likely would have left in free agency anyway. On the other hand, the Raptors have been doing poorly since the deal and Quickley is out indefinitely with an elbow injury.

The Knicks had their worst home performance of the season, a 120-111 loss to the Pistons that came without an injured Towns. The center returned Monday with 24 points and 15 balls, including the decisive throws in the last minute.

Brunson added 20 points and 11 assists. Mikal Bridges, who finished with 23 points, hit a corner 3-pointer with 1:37 left to give the Knicks a two-point lead.

The Raptors were dealt a major blow in the third quarter when Scottie Barnes, their second-leading scorer, became tangled with Towns under the basket and injured his ankle. He was ruled out and didn’t play the final 19 minutes.