By Shams Charania, Eric Koreen and Lukas Weese
Guard Immanuel Quickley intends to sign a five-year, $175 million deal to return to the Toronto Raptors, a league source said Friday.
Quickley, 25, is a restricted free agent. He joined the Raptors in December as part of a deal that sent OG Anunoby to the New York Knicks. In 38 games (all starts) with the Raptors, Quickley averaged 18.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game on 39.5 percent shooting from 3.
A first-round pick in 2020, Quickley finished second in Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2022-23.
The Raptors finished 25-57 during the 2023-24 season, missing the playoffs.
This is more money than I thought Quickley would earn in this deal. Instead of starting around $25 million, which is about average starting point guard money, he will start at just below $30 million, assuming the normal structure of a deal.
Again, I caution fans not to get too attached to the overall number. While Quickley’s contract will likely rise by eight percent per year, the salary cap will probably jump by 10 percent per year. Still, the Raptors are now paying Quickley and Scottie Barnes, who agreed to a maximum-level rookie extension last week, at levels beyond their production.
That is fine: Quickley and Barnes will be 25 and 23, respectively, on opening night next year. They should improve. But it is going to squeeze them in efforts to keep both Bruce Brown, who has a $23 million team option that must be decided on by the end of the day, and Gary Trent Jr., an unrestricted free agent.
That is just the supporting cast, though. Ultimately, this will be about whether Barnes and Quickley can match and, then, surpass the value of their new deals with their production. If they can do that, the Raptors have a chance to make some noise in the coming years. If not, they could get stuck in Play-In land. — Eric Koreen, Raptors staff writer
(Photo: Alika Jenner / Getty Images)
