NY Knicks: Making Sense of Immanuel Quickley’s Recent Slump

For most of the 2021 season, the New York Knicks’ Immanuel Quickley had appeared the steal of the 2020 draft. Taken with the 25th overall pick, Quickley had outperformed just about every rookie, including those taken ahead of him, with his crafty dribble game, long-range shooting, and gritty poise.

While there is no need to panic, Quickley has unfortunately not quite lived up lately to the standards he set earlier in the season. His shooting is off and he isn’t bringing the same energy. Hopefully, last night’s game against The Grizzlies where he dropped in 20 points will get him out of this funk.

It’s easy to pinpoint when the swoon began. Quickley hurt his ankle on March 16th and had to miss the March 18th matchup with the Orlando Magic. Since his return on March 21st against the Sixers, Quickley has averaged 9 points a game on a paltry 33 percent from the field. More worryingly, he is averaging a whole free throw attempt less than he had before the injury, a sign of reduced aggressiveness.

In the three games prior to getting hurt, Quickley was averaging 18.3 points per game and playing with tenacity and confidence. It’s pretty obvious, then, that the injury has at least played a part in the slump.

It’s also entirely possible that Quickley is dealing with a little bit of a rookie come down, which is to be expected at this point of the season. The Knicks as a whole are facing some adversity and it’s just difficult to sustain a high level of energy and interest over a full season, even at 72 rather than 82 games — especially if you are a bright-eyed 21-year-old like Quickley.

Though it is true that we are in the dog days of the season and night-to-night motivation can be hard to muster up as a player, it is also true that every Knicks game going forward will be important in terms of making the playoffs or play-in game.

Of late, the Knicks have really only been able to rely on three players for playmaking and scoring, that of Julius Randle, R.J. Barrett, and Alec Burks. If the NY Knicks are going to make a playoff push, others, like IQ, who is the team’s fourth-leading scorer on the season behind the aforementioned three, will have to step up and contribute.

The good news is that we’ve seen enough from Quickley this year to know that he can play winning basketball consistently. We also know that Quickley enjoys the NYC spotlight and being a New York Knick. The upcoming three-game home-stand, beginning tonight against Memphis, will present Quickley with an opportunity to regain form after a run of six of eight matchups on the road.

All IQ needs to reboot his confidence is for some of his patented floaters and nuclear range three-pointers to fall. It’s not just the playoffs that are on the line; given LaMelo Ball’s injury, a strong finish to the season could lock up the Rookie of the Year trophy as well.