Cason Wallace just got paid, and the ripple effect reaches all the way to Toronto.
Late last night, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on X that the Oklahoma City Thunder had agreed to a five-year, $139 million rookie-scale extension with the 10th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. That comes out to about $27.8 million per season, a number that will strike some people as steep. But Wallace has built a case that goes well beyond the box score.
Through his first three NBA seasons, Wallace has put up 7.9 points per game while shooting 46.3% from the field and 37.4% from three. He’s also added 2.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.5 steals a night. He has been durable, too: 82 games as a rookie, 68 in his second season and 77 last year.
The defense is what really stands out. Wallace has been a problem for opposing offenses from the moment he entered the league, and last season he led the NBA in total steals and deflections. That work earned him a place on the All-Defensive Second Team, where he was joined by Raptors standout Scottie Barnes.
And that’s where the conversation shifts back to Toronto and its five-year, $175 million extension for Immanuel Quickley in 2024.
It’s a deal that keeps coming back into focus whenever another guard of Wallace’s caliber lands a new contract. Even with moments that have hinted at the version of Quickley Toronto hoped it was buying, the agreement still feels shaky in hindsight.
The comparison is awkward for the Raptors because Wallace fits the kind of profile front offices love. He’s the sort of player who looks tailor-made for a team trying to build around two-way guards and clean, scalable basketball. The author even said Wallace was one of his top options in Toronto’s draft range in 2023 and believed he could have slid right into the Raptors’ plans.
Quickley, though, still brings a different kind of value. The biggest edge is volume from deep.
Wallace has averaged 3.2 three-point attempts per game in his career, with last season’s 3.7 marking his high so far. That number figures to climb, but Quickley has already made long-range shooting a central part of his game.
He has averaged 5.8 three-point attempts per game overall, and his role in Toronto has leaned heavily on that skill. The Raptors have needed him to be one of their main threats from distance, and that remains an important piece of what the team wants from its projected core, especially with Kawhi Leonard now in the picture.
Quickley has been around the seven-attempt mark for much of that stretch, including 7.1 in the 38-game sample after the trade from New York and 6.8 in each of the last two full seasons. Wallace and Quickley are both combo guards rather than classic point guards, but the edge in overall value still seems to tilt toward Wallace. The difference, as presented here, comes down to the kind of winning traits Wallace already brings and the belief that he has more of the qualities NBA teams fight over.
Wallace is not a finished product, but he is already the kind of player other teams would have paid for in a crowded market. That is why his new deal keeps drawing a line back to Toronto’s Quickley bet.
For the Raptors, the hope now is that Quickley can deliver the steady shooting they need while settling into the starting point guard job he has been handed. That comes with real uncertainty, especially for a roster that does not have much depth at the position, though Alijah Martin could be starting to alter that picture.
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What makes the discussion interesting is how differently each player would need to be shaped once they got into the program. Some bring defensive tools, some offer shooting, and some profile as guards who could grow into more responsibility with time. For Toronto, the question is less about a finished product and more about which developmental bet fits best with the organizations approach, even if the answer is still very much unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Suddenly Face A Real De'Aaron Fox Fit Question
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DeAaron Fox has naturally become part of that discussion, and Toronto has surfaced in speculation as a possible trade destination if San Antonio decides to reshuffle its backcourt. The rumored framework would send RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley the other way, but nothing has been finalized, which leaves the Raptors potential role in any Fox move very much in the realm of what-ifs for now. [Read more 🡒]