Immanuel Quickley’s rise this season from a trade chip to an indispensable part of the rotation is one of the fascinating storylines in the New York Knicks‘ march to the NBA playoffs.
Quickley is extension-eligible this summer, and along with his rise as the Sixth Man of the Year frontrunner and a dependable fill-in starter is the cost of his rookie extension.
“You can’t come in [with] four years, $60 million [offer] anymore,” ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on SNY’s Putback episode on Wednesday.
Quickley has made the leap this season after a slow start. He’s averaging starter minutes as the Knicks’ Sixth Man and putting up 14.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists while shooting a career-high 44.8% from the field. He also bounced back from sub-par 3-point shooting last season, raising his accuracy from 34.6% to 36.7%.
It was a remarkable turnaround for Quickey, who was the subject of trade rumors in November. The Athletic reported on Nov. 18 that the Knicks were willing to move Quickley.
It proved to be a sliding-door moment for Quickley and the Knicks.
“What I had heard was any conversation started at a first-round pick obviously coming back to the Knicks and that I don’t think teams and not a team that I had heard of at least at that point was comfortable going there and imagine if the Knicks had traded quickly at that point and then he had the season that he’s having? Obviously, no team got close to what they wanted, and now he’s here,” SNY’s Ian Begley said on The Putback.
The Knicks would have been scratching their heads had they traded Quickley, and he took off as he did this season.
Immanuel Quickley’s Best Ability Is Versatility
The Knicks improved to 12-7 when Quickley starts this season following their 138-129 win against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.
Quickley paced the team with 39 points, spiked by seven 3-pointers and nine assists.
New York coach Tom Thibodeau admires Quickley’s versatility.
“The beauty of his game is you can start him. You can bring him off the bench. You can
play with the [shooting guard spot]. You can play him at [point guard]. He fits with both groups [starters and second unit],” Thibodeau said.
“It doesn’t take him a long time to get going. He’s instantaneous. As soon as he gets in, he’s ready to go, and when you say, ‘Well, we need you to start. Okay, I got it.’ That’s his mindset. It’s terrific!”
Immanuel Quickley Wants More
While Quickley is the betting favorite to win the Sixth Man of the Year, he’s played better as a starter than off the bench, prompting questions about his future with the Knicks.
In March, Quickley said in a Yahoo Sports feature story that his dream is to become a starter. For now, Sixth Man of the Year is the most realistic goal. But the goalpost moves once he wins the award.
“I don’t want that to be what this is,” Quickley told Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer. “I don’t want everybody to think I just want to be a microwave guy. I don’t want to give that impression for my career. Because eventually, I want to be a starter down the line. You don’t work your whole life to … you know? But I’ll do whatever the team needs me to do. It’s about winning at the end of the day.”
With the Knicks already set with Jalen Brunson as their franchise point guard and Quentin Grimes raising his level of play as the starting shooting guard, it will be interesting to see how the Knicks would convince Quickley to stay past his rookie contract.
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Zach Lowe Weighs in on Cost of Retaining Rising Knicks Guard