Grade the Trade: Raptors lose Quickley but add new prospects in magical proposal

Laying out an Immanuel Quickley trade

Something that is important to remember when evaluating a "sign-and-trade" offer is that it's not a full trade offer. For example, if Immanuel Quickley was under contract for four years and the Orlando Magic made a trade offer, they would need to offer a lot of value. In a sign-and-trade, rather than making a trade offer for a player, the Magic are attempting to incentivize the Raptors not to match on a contract and not to force Orlando to wait days on an offer sheet.

That's worth something, which is why you see sign-and-trades on restricted free agents, but it's not worth the same as trading for the player themselves. In adding Quickley the Magic would be locking in a fourth member of their young core and further crowding their backcourt, making the key asset to offer the Raptors their recent Top-10 pick at guard.

Here's what the offer could look like:

Immanuel Quickley has not proven himself worth a maximum contract to this point in his career, so this would be a significant bet on his further production. With that being said, he would be stepping into an ecosystem where he could be the second option alongside Paolo Banchero and help to organize the offense without being the No. 1 target of opposing defenses. Jalen Suggs as his backcourt partner would allow him to take the weakest defensive assignment, a role he could excel in. His 39.5 percent 3-point shooting last season would be a welcome boon for a Magic team whose shooting was anemic last year.

Executing a sign-and-trade for Quickley rather than targeting an established All-Star at point guard is both less expensive and better fits their timeline, even if it does come with more risk that Quickley never takes that next step. With Franz Wagner and Suggs starting new contracts in 2025-26, this would commit them to an expensive team, but one that fits together extremely well and has a lot of room to grow.

It certainly makes sense for Orlando to take the swing; what should Toronto do if brought this offer from Quickley and the Magic?