The Raptors’ biggest question early this season isn’t really about Jakob Poeltl anymore. It’s about whether Toronto can live with Immanuel Quickley as its starting point guard when the games tighten up.
Poeltl has been rough, no question, but Collin Murray-Boyles is behind him now and has even moved into the starting lineup ahead of him. That makes the center spot feel a little less urgent. Quickley, though, has been sliding since that strong opening-night showing that made him look like the lead guard Toronto needed.
There’s a natural counterargument here: once Kawhi Leonard returns, Quickley’s off-ball scoring should become even more useful. But that’s exactly the problem.
His best work comes as a scorer moving without the ball, and that’s not really the profile of a point guard. For a while, the idea was that Scottie Barnes could handle the starting point guard role while Quickley played off him.
But with Barnes anchoring the defense, that asks too much.
So if Toronto is choosing between upgrading center or point guard first, the answer is point guard.
Quickley’s inconsistency is also dragging on the offense in the half court. It would be too simple to pin all of Toronto’s struggles on him, but a steadier lead guard would make those possessions look a lot cleaner.
When the offense bogs down, he doesn’t consistently provide the kind of create-your-own-shot answer a team needs. He can knock down a late-shot-clock three after someone hands him a tough one, but he isn’t the guy you want carrying the burden when everything breaks apart.
The playmaking has been the same story: flashes, then long stretches where it disappears. Against Denver, he had six assists in the first half and finished with seven.
That kind of swing is the issue. Quickley can look sharp for a stretch, then fade right back out of the picture.
And that’s why the fit at the one feels shaky. He can absolutely bring a burst and spark a 10-0 run by himself, but that’s more of a sixth-man trait than a starting point guard trait. Toronto has seen too many nights where he owns one half and barely touches the game in the other.
That’s not a profile you feel great about in a playoff series.
The bigger ask for this team is simple: someone who keeps the offense moving every time he’s on the floor, not just in scattered bursts across 48 minutes.
As for a fix, there isn’t an obvious one. Kyrie Irving had been an intriguing possibility at one point, but that doesn’t seem to be on the table now.
Darius Garland might qualify as an upgrade, though he comes with some of the same issues as Quickley. For now, though, the concern is clear enough: if Immanuel Quickley is Toronto’s starting point guard come playoff time, that puts a real ceiling on this group.
In Other News...
Raptors May Have Found An Unexpected Answer During This Ugly Stretch
During an ugly stretch that has tested Torontos rotation, Collin Murray-Boyles has started to look like more than a promising young piece. His defensive activity has stood out, and so has the kind of versatility that lets the Raptors use him in different spots without losing energy or edge. He has also chipped in offensively enough to make the case that his impact is not limited to one end of the floor.
With Jakob Poeltl struggling and Leonard unavailable, the idea is simple enough: Murray-Boyles might be Torontos best temporary answer at center. It is still an opinion more than a confirmed change, but the logic is hard to ignore when the team needs steadiness, effort and some lineup flexibility. For a Raptors group searching for anything that can stabilize the present, he has at least given them a real option to consider. [Read more 🡒]
Former Knicks Guard Just Landed In An Uncomfortable Spot For New York
The Raptors filled their open two-way spot by bringing in Kevin McCullar Jr., a guard who had been on two-way deals with the Knicks and has spent most of his pro time developing in the G League. For Toronto, it is a low-risk move that adds another young backcourt option to a roster that has been willing to keep churning the edges of its depth chart.
McCullar can appear in up to 45 regular-season games for the Raptors, but his path to the postseason is a little more complicated. If Toronto wants him available once the games matter most, he would need to be moved onto the standard roster first, which gives this signing a practical upside beyond just filling a vacancy. [Read more 🡒]
Raptors Keep Running Into A Problem That Could Derail Their Start
The Raptors have spent the first stretch of the 2026-27 season trying to hold the line without Kawhi Leonard, and the results have been mixed at 4-4 through eight games. Leonard has appeared in only two games because of injury, leaving Toronto to sort through a rotation that has shown flashes but also some troubling stretches when the games tighten up.
The biggest concern has been what keeps happening after halftime. Toronto has repeatedly let third quarters slip away, none more glaring than the collapse against Denver, when the Nuggets buried them 41-15 in the period and held them to 21.7 percent shooting. Getting Leonard back should help, and so could some lineup tweaks, but until the Raptors solve that recurring problem, the early-season footing still feels shaky. [Read more 🡒]