The Future Starts Now: Raptors officially announce extensions for Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley

With two cornerstones officially inked to new deals, Toronto prepares to embark on a new era of Raptors basketball.

“Allow me to reintroduce myself….”

On the 17th floor of the Globe & Mail Centre in downtown Toronto, the Raptors stepped away from the friendly (and familiar) confines of Scotiabank Arena and the OVO Athletic Centre to signal a new era of Raptors basketball.

The media event was held to formally announce the contract extensions of Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley. While the agreements with both players were seen as a formality, the magnitude of those deals allowed the team to set the stage for what lies ahead.

No financial details were disclosed for either player but thankfully, Adrian Wojnarowski is still around to drop bombs (atomically).

After a brief introduction from the Emcee/Raptors Play-by-Play Announcer, Matt Devlin, the event began with a fireside chat-like conversation with Raptors President, Masai Ujiri.

Masai first addressed the tumultuous 2023-24 season, “I think what we went through last year was quite tough for our organization and, in some way, we didn’t want to put our fans through that.” Ujiri was, however, quick to turn the depressing recollection into a positive look forward, “But this is the tide, the cycle of sports you go through, and how you need to start rebuilding and resetting……what can be bigger than signing these two players.”

Before jumping into the Scottie and Immanuel portion of the event, it should be noted that Ujiri made sure to remind everyone of his mantra.

By my count, Masai Ujiri said “win” 14 times in his 5 minutes with the microphone! If nothing else, Ujiri is committed to hammering a point home.

Scottie Barnes was brought to the stage next. Like Mufasa holding baby Simba for all to exalt, Masai sat proudly in the middle of the dais while the next “king” of the franchise sat to the right of him.

Barnes attributed last season’s success to the work he put in last summer, following the playoff elimination to the Sixers, “the year before, we had a heartbreaking loss, but I didn’t know how to deal with it. So, I just wanted to come back, try to evolve….that was my main focus….(to) impact the game in a great way.”

Scottie’s 5-year contract extension is reportedly worth over $224 million, with incentives for earning All-NBA honors or winning Defensive Player of the Year next season that could balloon that total to $270 million.

While the latter may not be written in the stars, the former is certainly attainable. Barnes earned his first All-Star nod last season, finishing with 19.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.5 blocks. Only 3 other players hit each of those averages in points, rebounds, and assists: Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Luka Doncic. When you add in the steals and blocks, Barnes stands alone! Had his season not been cut short by a wrist injury (ironically sustained by getting accidentally hit by Quickley), Barnes could have slipped into the 3rd team All-NBA.

With the organization putting all its proverbial eggs in the Barnes basket, his continued growth will be paramount if the Raptors want to become championship contenders in the near future. When asked about what he’ll work on this summer, he said, “trying to work on my decision making. How I get to my spots and how I’ll be able to dominate from those spots.”

The decision-making may improve organically because next season will be the first full campaign where Scottie is the team’s unquestioned leader. The trade rumour clouds of OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam swirling above for half the season are long gone. Sure, there’s still the ambiguity surrounding Bruce Brown, but his departure (or stay) doesn’t affect Toronto’s landscape in the same magnitude as Anunoby or Siakam.

Speaking of Brown, he was sure to lay any trade rumors to rest, or at least quiet the folks who want him traded, by showing up to the presser! Bruce was joined by fellow Raptors, Ochai Agbaji, Gradey Dick, and the newest Raptor, Davion Mitchell.

Next to the stage was Toronto’s point guard of the present and future: Immanuel Quickley. He, unfortunately, did not skip to the stage. However, his ear-to-ear smile expressed the same joy!

“The main thing was the mentality of the organization, where they saw this team going. I think what we can do here can be special.”

While he was referencing the team, Quickley could have easily been talking about himself. IQ has already provided some special moments in his short time with the Raptors. In his second game on the team, Quickley dropped 26 points, dished out 5 assists, and hit 5 of his 8 three-point attempts in a victory over the Grizzlies. He scored over 30 points in consecutive games near the end of the season. IQ was 1 rebound shy of a triple-double against the Suns on March 7th (21 points, 18 assists, and 9 rebounds), and 1 assist shy of a triple-double against the Bucks on April 5th (25 points, 9 rebounds, and 13 assists).

In his 38 games as a Raptor, Immanuel shot 39.5% from three on 7.1 attempts per game. If you add his 18.6 points over a full season, that would put him in elite company. Only Steph Curry, Paul George, Kyrie Irving, Lauri Markkanen, CJ McCollum, and Tyler Herro achieved those benchmarks. None of them averaged as many assists (6.8) as Quickley.

Masai wrapped up the presser by talking about the different eras of Raptors basketball. He mentioned Vince Carter, then Kyle Lowry & DeMar DeRozan, followed by a brief shoutout to the Bench Mob, before ultimately ending on Kawhi Leonard and the championship. All of those eras had varying degrees of success that Raptors fans will always remember.

The journey that Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley are about to embark on will also be remembered — especially when Masai recalls it in a speech in 5 years, talking about winning in Toronto. The re-introduction of Barnes and Quickley, high above the downtown Toronto skyline, signals the start of a new era and the growing hope that they can lead the franchise to even greater heights! The future really does start now!