By Shams Charania, Eric Koreen, John Hollinger 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.
Raptors go all in on Quickley
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
How this move impacts Raptors’ cap
With Quickley’s new deal starting at an estimated $30.175 million, Toronto is now $12.3 million from the tax line if it picks up Brown’s team option, as expected, with 14 players under contract and two late second-rounders likely headed for two-ways. Slice off a chunk of salary for second-rounder Jonathan Mogbo, and you’re looking at about $10.5 million in functional wiggle room for the Raptors to use a chunk of their non-taxpayer midlevel exception on the last roster spot, which one suspects would be a four given how guard-heavy they are. — John Hollinger, senior NBA writer
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(Photo: Alika Jenner / Getty Images)
Christine Lake is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. With an extensive background in sports journalism, he covers everything from major league championships to grassroots sports events. When she’s not on the field or at the stadium, you’ll find Christine coaching youth sports teams.
