On Dec. 30th the Toronto Raptors acquired guard Immanuel Quickley, guard/forward R.J. Barrett and a 2024 second-round pick from the New York Knicks, in exchange for forward O.G. Anunoby, centre/forward Precious Achiuwa and guard Malachi Flynn.
The trade sees beloved Raptor Anunoby – who was a part of the 2019 championship winning team – leave Toronto, sparking a new era for the Raptors and one that should excite the fanbase.
Immanuel Quickley, the 24-year-old sharp-shooter, is expected to provide the much-needed jolt to ignite the rather lacklustre offence. The former Kentucky Wildcat will slot into the starting lineup, a role he excelled at in 21 starts with New York in the 2022-23 season.
As a starter, Quickley averaged 22.6 points per game, 5.4 rebounds per game and 5.1 assists per game while shooting greater than 40 per cent from three.
In 30 games this season with the Knicks, Quickley shot 39.5 per cent from beyond the arc while shooting 45.4 per cent from the field and 87.2 per cent from the free throw line.
Quickley’s shooting will be a lethal contributor to the Raptors’ hope for success this season and beyond given Toronto’s shooting woes so far this year. The Raptors are 26th out of 30 teams in three-point shooting, shooting under 35 per cent, while ranking second-last in free throw percentage at 73.9 per cent.
Toronto is also in the bottom half of the league in points per game, scoring only 114 points, something R.J. Barrett can help improve the team in. Barrett, the third-overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, averaged 18.2 points per game in 26 starts in the Big Apple this season and has a career 18.1 points per game, having scored a career-high 20 points per game in the 2021-22 season.
The former Duke Blue Devils’ star is expected to get more minutes with the Raptors after averaging a career-low 29.5 minutes per game with New York, after reaching highs near 35 minutes a game in past seasons.
Paired with Quickley and Scottie Barnes, that trio – who fans have started to call “BBQ” given the first initial of their last names – is expected to be the core of the team for years to come. All three players are young and can develop together as a cohesive unit, given their unique skillsets complement each other nicely.
Quickley is a fantastic shooter who can space the floor and has the makings of developing into a great playmaker. Barrett is a scorer who can attack the basket and hit mid-range shots, whereas Barnes is a versatile big who can handle the ball, gather rebounds and make buckets from anywhere on the court.
For the team as a whole, the acquisition of Quickley and Barrett slides Dennis Schröder – the Raptors’ former starting point guard – down to the bench, a role which should better the team as well as Schröder, who’s been struggling as of late.
The Raptors bench has been troublesome to begin this season, averaging the third-fewest bench points per game this season with 30.4. However, with Schröder’s veteran leadership and playmaking abilities assisting the second unit, it should provide the necessary spark to role players like Gary Trent Jr., Chris Boucher, Otto Porter Jr. and others, who’ve been non-existent in the offence at times this season.
On paper, this trade has the potential to be franchise-altering as it can set the Raptors back on the path to being a prominent and formidable team in the Eastern Conference and the NBA, something they have been trending away from in recent years.
But the game isn’t played on paper, it’s played on the court. As such, it will be interesting to see how BBQ and the rest of the team blend together to get the Raptors on the right foot forward for the rest of this season and in the years to come.
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