I'm genuinely a big fan of Immanuel Quickley, even if I've been highlighting those getting on his case as of late. In the aftermath of the OG Anunoby trade, there were many who thought Quickley was the dark horse of the entire deal. He hadn't quite been given the green light to shine in NY, so why couldn't Quickley have a break out in Toronto, where they'd been desperately searching for a new-era point guard to succeed the post-Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet eras.
He is far from a perfectly polished player; he certainly has room to develop into a more refined NBA point guard. But if we're talking about outside scoring and the flashes to his offensive game, IQ definitely impresses when he's in the right element. However, Quickley just couldn't stay healthy last year. Racking up a few assists along with 15, 16, or 17-plus points a night ... does that really make him a 30-plus million dollar player? I don't think you can justify the salary you're shelling out for what Quickley has actually brought in return ... at least, thus far.
And because Quickley was able to nudge the negotiations with Toronto to his desired number, it seems that other NBA players at his level are using the IQ-Raptors contract as a benchmark to justify their own big paydays. Case in point, the Raptors and Immanuel Quickley can be seen as heavily responsible for sabotaging the 'non-star' market, since RFAs (restricted free agents) will undoubtedly be looking to make a case for deals close to what IQ secured ($32.5 million annually, $175 million over five years).
The Immanuel Quickley-Raptors contract caused RFA to go off the rails
Look no further than what I recently covered about Nets guard and RFA Cam Thomas, who highlighted Quickley, fellow Raptor RJ Barrett, and Tyler Herro as players he shouldn’t be seen as inferior to — especially considering what they’re each being paid. I argued that Thomas has a somewhat weaker playstyle, but when it comes to the money, I can fully understand why the polarizing Nets player would have those takeaways.
ESPN's Bobby Marks touched on this point of Quickley's price tag making the RFA market murky in a recent YouTube video dated August 1. Here's an excerpt of what Marks said:
"... the Immanuel Quickley contract, that five for, what is it like, $150 million and bonuses and almost gets up to $160 million has totally screwed up restricted free agency. Because that's where agents are looking at like the benchmark, certainly Josh Giddey's like 'I want that contract there!' That number has screwed up a lot of things and that is why, you can't use comps as far that it's a rich contract, I don't think Toronto got enough heat for that, I guess for that number? Because Immanuel Quickley is not a $32, $33 million guy ... But, that contract basically has screwed up certainly restricted free agency a bit. "Bobby Marks
Considering Bobby Marks says "screwed up" multiple times — and I believe Raptors fans can attest to it — that definitely means something went horribly wrong in that entire process. And as scary as it is for Raptors fans to think about the IQ deal completely blowing up in their face, it’s clear that other teams around the league are also in a state of limbo as a result.