Immanuel Quickley is entering a season where the spotlight isn’t just bright - it’s unavoidable.
With the Kawhi Leonard trade still on hold, the Raptors are sitting in a strange in-between space. But Jakob Poeltl and Quickley are the two names the team can almost certainly count on being there, and both carry plenty of pressure because of their contracts and what happened last season.
Zach Lowe placed Poeltl on his honorable mention list of the ten players under the most pressure next season. Quickley landed all the way at No. 9.
“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.”
Lowe went further, laying out the version of Quickley Toronto thought it was getting.
“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.”
If Leonard ends up joining the Raptors, Quickley’s role gets even more important. Toronto would need him healthy, ready, and efficient on a team trying to contend in the East.
His 3-point shooting matters because the Raptors still don’t have enough spacing, especially in the starting lineup. His passing and pace-setting also become key when Leonard sits for load management, a small injury, or even a suspension.
But Quickley is also far from untouchable. He still has plenty to prove before he can be treated as a core piece for the long haul.
If the Leonard deal gets done, Toronto’s financial picture becomes tight, and Quickley’s salary - $32,500,000 in each of the next three seasons - is a major part of that equation. In that scenario, he would need to perform like the third-highest-paid player on the roster behind Leonard and Barnes.
If he doesn’t, the Raptors may have to think about moving him.
There’s also the simple fact that he was the lone key player who didn’t take part in Toronto’s first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. While that meant he missed a chance to show he could be a difference-maker when it mattered most, his teammates showed the Raptors could survive without him. Shead and Walter gave them strong defense in his absence, while Barnes, Shead, and RJ Barrett piled up assists, and Barnes and Barrett were unusually strong from beyond the arc.
So the message is clear: Quickley still has to show what he can do in the biggest moments. If the Raptors’ plan comes together, he’ll get that chance next season.
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