New York Knicks guard Immanuel Quickley is looking for “nine figures” on his next contract, according to Heavy.com’s Sean Deveney.
Quickley, 24, is eligible for an extension this offseason and will become a restricted free agent next offseason if he and the Knicks can’t come to terms on a long-term deal.
“Don’t expect Quickley to look for a hometown discount,” Deveney wrote. “‘He is going to want nine figures,’ one league executive told Heavy Sports. ‘And that’s for four years. I can’t say the Knicks will go that high but they might have to. He is not a guy you want to send to restricted free agency.’”
It makes sense that Quickley wants a major contract after the impressive season he had in the 2022-23 campaign. The former first-round pick was amongst the finalists for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award, averaging 14.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 44.8 percent from the field and 37.0 percent from beyond the arc.
A team may look at Quickley as a viable option in a starting role if he’s able to hit free agency next summer and offer him a major deal to make it tough for the Knicks to match.
As a starter in the 2022-23 season, Quickley averaged 22.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game in 21 games.
The Knicks should want to lock Quickley into a long-term deal this offseason in case he has another impressive season and becomes more expensive next year.
New York certainly missed Quickley in the second round of the playoffs in the 2022-23 season after he went down with an ankle injury against the Miami Heat. The team was in desperate need of some bench production in his absence.
The Knicks are attempting to contend for a title in the Eastern Conference after earning the conference’s No. 5 seed in the 2022-23 season and making it to the second round of the playoffs.
Quickley, Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle and RJ Barrett are the core of what has become one of the better teams in the East, so the team may be willing to pay up for Quickley to keep him in New York and the team in contention.
The No. 25 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, Quickley has certainly made a name for himself in his first three NBA seasons.
