The Toronto Raptors and the New York Knicks have finalized a trade that will send OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, and Malachi Flynn to the Knicks and send Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, and a Detroit Pistons second round pick back to the Raptors.
OG Anunoby has been in trade rumors for quite some time and Toronto has always seemed hesitant to move the home grown wing, but with his impending free agency this summer, perhaps Toronto did not feel strongly about their chances to retain Anunoby.
Immanuel Quickley is a great player to get in a return package for Anunoby, Quickley is the perfect guard that Toronto needs for the future. He is a lighting quick guard who can also shoot the ball very efficiently and is a positive on defense as well and he is just 24 years old. Toronto also gets former third overall pick RJ Barrett who has some solid upside and could pan out very well for them. Barrett is a strong driver, has shown that he has the potential to be a floor spacer, and can defend at times as well. The Pistons second round pick also has more value than it seems to, it’ll be a high second round pick which Toronto can use to find a high upside guy in the draft.
The loss of OG Anunoby is a big one, he was arguably the best defender on this team, one of the only players who was a surefire floor spacer and he just fit so perfectly in any lineup he was in, Anunoby had spent his entire career with Toronto and they molded him into the player he is today. The losses of Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn are to a much lesser degree but those are two young players who just couldn’t quite figure it out in Toronto.
This trade signifies that Toronto is finally choosing a direction and that direction is to get younger and focus more on the future than try to salvage the current core any longer, this is a move that was a long time coming and that signifies a new era for the Toronto Raptors.
