Raptors Salary Cap Breakdown Following Huge New Deal for Immanuel Quickley

The Toronto Raptors have signed Immanuel Quickley to a huge five-year deal but the deal shouldn't hamstring Toronto quite as much as the size of the contract suggets

Apr 3, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Toronto Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley (5) works around Minnesota Timberwolves guard Monte Morris (23) during the fourth quarter at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports / Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

NBA salaries these days have become startling.

A decade ago, Kobe Bryant was making $23.5 million as the highest-paid player in the league. He'd signed a two-year, $48.5 million deal with the Los Angeles Lakers and it seemed like a ginormous contract even for a legend like Bryant.

Today, that'd be chump change.

The Toronto Raptors will reportedly pay Immanuel Quickley almost 50 percent more than that as the 25-year-old is set to ink a five-year, 175 million contract to remain in Toronto, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Friday.

It's a shocking number, but maybe not an unreasonable one — at least not by NBA standards.

The contract will likely pay Quickley $30.2 million next season, roughly 21.4% of the salary cap or 17.6% of the NBA's luxury tax. Quickley's salary is expected to climb by $2.4 million each season with a final salary of $39.8 million in 2028-29. But while Quickely will make more money each year, the impact of his contract is expected to decrease as the salary cap rises. By the final year of his deal, Quickley will only be making roughly 19.29% of the expected salary cap.

Immanuel Quickley's new five-year contract with the Toronto Raptors / Spotrac

In terms of average annual value, Quickley's new contract will make him the 13th highest-paid point guard in the league, sandwiched between Ben Simmons and Jrue Holiday next year, according to Spotrac. As a percentage of the salary cap, he ranks 44th in the league, trailing Khris Middleton and Chris Paul next year.

For Toronto, this was merely the cost of doing business and a deal that had to happen. The Raptors traded for Quickley in December knowing the organization was going to have to pony up to keep him and that's exactly what they did.

The 6-foot-3 point guard proved he could be a starting caliber point guard in the league and Toronto paid him as such with a number that'll require him to play at about a league-average level for starting point guards.

Moving forward, Toronto has its core of Quickley, Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, and Gradey Dick all on long-term deals. Barnes will likely make 25% of the salary cap in 2024-25, roughly $38.8 million, while Barrett's current deal will pay him about 18% of the salary cap for the next two seasons. Together, four will make about 67% of the salary cap following this upcoming season with Dick accounting for just 3%.

None of these new deals will become official until July 6 and it's possible Toronto opts to delay the official announcement of Quickley's deal until a little later on in free agency. Quickley's cap hold for next season is just $12.5 million and Toronto could theoretically take advantage of that if the organization wants to create cap space this summer. Ultimately, though, it looks like the Raptors will opt to be an over-the-cap team this summer and an announcement on Quickley's deal should be coming in about a week's time.