With the Kawhi Leonard trade on hold, the Raptors are stuck in limbo. However, Jakob Poeltl and Immanuel Quickley will definitely (barring any surprise trades) be on the Raptors’ roster, and both of them have a lot to prove next season due to their large contracts and last season’s disappointments.
Poeltl was an honorable mention on Zach Lowe’s list of ten players facing the most pressure next season. Quickley, meanwhile, came in at number nine.
“Doesn’t it feel like he’s barely played for the Raptors?” Lowe said. “Can you remember a single thing Immanuel Quickley has done on the Raptors? Didn’t play at all in the playoffs against Cleveland, and they were better defensively for it because Jamal Shead took most of those minutes and Ja’Kobe Walter took a lot of those minutes. They're going to need Immanuel Quickley to be better on defense.”
He also added, “It just feels like the vision was, we’re not handing the offense to Immanuel Quickley, but you’re going to defend point guards, and you’re going to be this supercharged version of a George Hill where you average 16, 18 a game. You’re off the ball a lot. You can set screens for Scottie Barnes in reverse pick-and-rolls. You punish defenses on close outs. We’ve seen like a quarter of it here, a quarter of it there. For this team to take the form that it thinks it can take, they just need Immanuel Quickley to be very good for a prolonged period of time…It’s time for them to get the Immanuel Quickley who they thought they were getting in the OG Anunoby trade.”
Next season will be a big one for Quickley
If Kawhi Leonard joins the Raptors, they will need Immanuel Quickley to be healthy and ready to contribute to an Eastern Conference contender. His 3-point shooting will be key, as the Raptors still lack spacing, especially in the starting lineup. Moreover, his passing and ability to push the pace on offense will be important whenever the Raptors find themselves without Leonard due to load management, a small injury, or even a suspension, and have to create offense without him.
As important as Quickley can be to that version of the Raptors, he is not irreplaceable and still has a lot to prove if he wants to establish himself as a long-term piece. If the trade is completed as the Raptors hope it will be, they face a tight financial situation. Quickley would contribute heavily to that as he makes $32,500,000 in each of the next three seasons. So, he will have to play like the third-highest-paid player behind Leonard and Barnes on that team. If he can’t deliver, the Raptors will have to consider trading him. After all, if Leonard becomes a Raptor, they face high pressure to win immediately.
Moreover, Quickley is the only key player who didn’t play in the Raptors’ first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. While he missed an opportunity to prove that he was crucial to the team’s success at the highest level, his teammates proved that they could make do without him. As Lowe mentioned, Shead and Walter played great defense with Quickley sidelined. Between Barnes, Shead, and RJ Barrett, the Raptors also got a ton of assists, and Barnes and Barrett were uncharacteristically hot from 3-point range.
Quickley still has to show what he can bring to the Raptors when games matter the most. If everything goes according to plan, he will have a chance to do just that next season.
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