Immanuel Quickley has long been known as a shot hunter, a microwave scorer, a gunner. He has been the type of player who hovers around league-average efficiency, but still finds ways to put points on the board.
When trading for Immanuel Quickley during the 2024 season, many Raptors fans wanted to see the 24-year-old develop into a more consistent scorer. Unfortunately for those fans, his true shooting percentage before and after being traded to Toronto is nearly identical.
That does not mean we have not seen growth from the point guard.
Immanuel Quickley is taking steps as a playmaker
Immanuel Quickley is becoming more comfortable in the lead guard role than he has been in the past. His assists per game have more than doubled since being traded to Toronto, while his turnover numbers have barely gone up.
That is especially true this season. He is sporting a career-high 4.01 assist-to-turnover ratio. That number is not just a career high, but it currently ranks ninth in the league. More importantly, most of the players above him are low-usage players who do not handle the ball often.
Davion Mitchell, Payton Pritchard, and Tre Jones are the only players above him who average more than 25 minutes per game, and Mitchell is the only player who averages more assists per game than Quickley.
Watching the Raptors this season, you can see the effort Quickley is making to limit mistakes.
He still displays questionable decision-making at times, especially in the form of taking contested shots at inopportune moments. However, in general, Quickley has done a good job leading this offense.
What are Immanuel Quickley’s next steps?
Quickley turning into a more mistake-free guard changes what many fans may have envisioned going forward.
When acquiring Quickley, he was viewed as a potential future go-to scoring option. So far, his scoring production in Toronto has remained mostly stagnant.
His growth as a playmaker may instead point him toward a more traditional point guard role. If Quickley wants to remain in the starting lineup long term, that may be his clearest path forward.
Inefficient, streaky scorers can still be effective, but they are often best utilized in bench roles. That is not necessarily a bad archetype. Players like Jamal Crawford and Lou Williams built long careers in that mold. However, that role comes with limited impact and playing time.
If Quickley can continue to lead the Raptors’ offense while providing scoring bursts when he gets hot, then he may already be carving out his place as the team’s long-term starting point guard, just not in the way many initially expected.