Remember two years ago when the New York Knicks traded Immanuel Quickley in a package for OG Anunoby, and everyone thought the world was ending? Some even said that Quickley was the best player in the deal. Well, since then, that's been proved wrong (times a million), and now, we're at a point where the Raptors would be lucky to offload Quickley's contract in a trade for Ja Morant.
ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania reported last week that the Grizzlies are "entertaining offers" for Morant for the first time in his career. There is a list of a few teams that could step in and trade for the 26-year-old guard, including Toronto.
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic proposed a trade (subscription required) involving the Raptors, Grizzlies, and Lakers that would send IQ to Memphis. In Vecenie's reasoning as to why Toronto would do it, he stated the obvious — that overpaying Quickley is the team's "biggest recent mistake."
Will former Knicks guard Immanuel Quickley be traded for Ja Morant?
In the 2024 offseason, the Raptors extended IQ on a five-year, $175 million deal. They thought they had their point guard of the future after he averaged 18.6 points and 6.8 assists per game to close out the 2023-24 season.
This season, Quickley is averaging 16.5 points, 6.3 assists, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game, shooting 42.3% from the field and 35.3% from three. Those aren't the numbers Toronto envisioned when it re-signed IQ, as he's making $32.5 million per year through 2028-29.
Jake Fischer reported on Jan. 10 that Toronto discussed a Domantas Sabonis deal with Sacramento, but that the Kings weren't interested in taking Quickley (subscription required) or Jakob Poeltl's contracts. He added that the Raptors offered IQ to the Hawks as part of a package for Trae Young before last year's deadline, yet Atlanta didn't want that.
Would Memphis even be interested in Quickley, then? If it included a first-round pick, maybe. In the trade Vecenie created, the Grizzlies would receive a 2026 first-round pick from the Raptors. That would incentivize them to take on a bad contract like IQ's, as they're in a position to do so.
The fact that this is where the NBA ranks Quickley's value proves once again that the Knicks made the right decision to trade him. Rather than deal with the headache that the Raptors are now, they have a pretty good player in Anunoby, who is making quite a bit of money himself, but that's justified.
By no means is Quickley a bad player, but his production doesn't reflect the money that he's making. If he does end up in Memphis, hopefully, it will work out better for him there.