Extending IQ, Part II

We finish our deep dive on the questions surrounding a possible extension for Immanuel Quickley. Plus, the Harden fiasco continues.

Good morning! Hope everyone’s week is going better than Daryl Morey’s…

🗣️ News & Notes ✍️

🏀 Buckle up and hold onto your butts…

At an event in China, James Harden fired the latest salvo in the ongoing war between himself and friend-turned-foe Daryl Morey.

Up until now, I had viewed this as a three-way staring contest between Harden, Morey and the Los Angeles Clippers. Would LA pay Morey’s asking price, likely something along the lines of Terrence Mann, Norm Powell, and at least one future unprotected first rounder? Would Morey want this unpleasantness over with before training camp and trade Harden for the best package available so as to not risk further upsetting the reigning league MVP? Or would Harden show up and play the good soldier, making himself more appealing as a 2024 free agent (and perhaps not wanting to risk violating the CBA’s “Withholding Services” clause)?

Well you can seemingly take that last option off the table, at least as long as Morey is employed by the Sixers. Speaking of Philly, have they as an organization replaced Harden in this three-way face off, as they now could conceivably part ways with Morey as a way to get Harden to show up and be his best self? That would have seemed unthinkable at one point, and maybe it still is.

But I can’t imagine any of this is sitting well with Sixers management (or, for that matter, the big guy who wants to win in Philly “or anywhere else”).

Extending IQ, Part II

I want to pick up the IQ extension discussion with a point that Ken raised at the end of his question from yesterday.

He brought up the notion that Immanuel Quickley will be a restricted free agent next summer, and thus, the Knicks will be able to match any offer he receives from another team. In theory, there is no risk that they’ll lose him for nothing. Why, then, would they jump the gun and extend him nearly a year before they have to?

There are a few reasons. For one, there’s the base year compensation issue that would arise in a potential sign and trade, as I explained yesterday. There’s also the benefit of showing a key player that you value his contributions to the team - including sacrificing his own numbers for the greater good.

More than either of those specific benefits though, recent NBA history says that if you have a good player who is nearing the end of his rookie deal, it’s common practice to extend them before they get to restricted free agency, and that there are usually specific reasons when an extension doesn’t get done.

Existing Precedent

Over the previous four summers, the best first round picks from the 2016 through 2019 draft classes have largely extended before the beginning of their fourth season.