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Whether separate or together, Immanuel Quickley and Jamal Shead have propelled Toronto so far.
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Published Nov 27, 2025 • 4 minute read
arko Rajakovic, Immanuel Quickley, Jamal Shead
Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic, second left, talks with players Immanuel Quickley (5) and Jamal Shead (23) during an open practice at McGill University in Montreal, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. Photo by Graham Hughes /T|HE CANADIAN PRESS
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There’s no question Brandon Ingram and Scottie Barnes have been crucial forces in the Toronto Raptors running off nine straight wins, with just one loss in their last 14.
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Ingram has been hitting game-winning shots, as he memorably did Wednesday at home against the Indiana Pacers, along with a boatload of mid-range jumpers on a nightly basis, while Barnes has been doing a little bit of everything, looking like one of the 10 best players in the NBA most evenings.
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But this group has been built on enviable depth and versatility around its stars and that has shown in the combination of guards Immanuel Quickley and Jamal Shead.
Point guard was supposed to be one of the weaker areas of the roster heading into the season — Quickley’s 2024-25 campaign was ruined by various injuries while Shead had shown flashes as a rookie, but still had plenty to work on. Plus, there was no viable third point guard on the roster in case injuries struck. But Shead has been one of the best sophomores in the league so far, even if he hasn’t been as flashy as some of the other second-year players and Quickley has shrugged off a slow start to play tremendous basketball of his own the last few weeks (he’s averaged 17.2 points on 49.3% shooting, including 41.1% on a team-high 7.3 three-point attempts per game, plus 5.8 assists, 5.1 rebounds and only 1.4 turnovers over his last 10 games).
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Head coach Darko Rajakovic has also found a lot of success doing what worked so well for other recent Raptors head coaches like Dwane Casey and Nick Nurse — pairing two point guards together often, especially late in games. We’re not saying Quickley and Shead are Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet, or even Lowry and Jose Calderon, but the team-up is working.
Quickley and Shead getting more action with Barrett out
They’re hitting outside shots at a high rate, running the offence without making many mistakes, rebounding for their position and playing strong defensively. With RJ Barrett sidelined at least for a few games, you can expect to see more of Quickley and Shead on the floor together (Barrett had been averaging 8.3 fourth quarter minutes a game, tied with Barnes for the team high). In 60 minutes together so far this season, the duo is scoring 18.6 more points per 100 possessions than it’s giving up. In the 40 minutes the duo has also had Ingram on the floor the net rating has been +15.7, another monster number and if you swap Ingram for Jakob Poeltl, those 25 minutes have gone in favour of Toronto handily too.
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It’s not a weapon Rajakovic can break out all the time, but it’s a neat trick to have in his back pocket.
“Both of them do a good job of keeping us running in transition and in finding those outlet passes. They get us organized. Obviously both of them are very good 3-point shooters as well,” Rajakovic explained last week of what he likes about the combination.
“It spreads the floor more, especially for Quickley,” Ingram said, alluding to Quickley’s past before Toronto as an elite scoring guard (he was second in sixth man of the year voting while with New York). “He’s able to be his normal position, scoring the basketball, getting into the lane. Still seeing passes, but he’s able to be more of a scorer than a facilitator when Jamal is out there.”
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“It’s a good thing to have, when you have two point guards on the floor that can see different things on the floor that everybody else can’t see, it makes the game easier.”
Speaking specifically about finishing games together, Shead said he’s enjoying the task.
“I think instead of focusing on just being point guards, I think we just focus on being basketball players,” he said.
“We both try to make the right pass. We both try to just make the right play, whether that’s him shooting it, us making an extra pass. I think we’re just unselfish enough to know what the right play is,” Shead said.
And at the other end, they’re making their mark as well. Quickley sometimes just likes watching Shead go at opposing attackers, no matter how big they are, something veteran teammate Garrett Temple echoed.
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‘Unbelievable defender’
“Jamal? He’s an unbelievable defender,” Quickley told the Toronto Sun. “ The best part of his defence is probably just his effort and willingness to just make plays.”
Added Temple on Shead: “Oh, he’s just a dog. Point blank, he’s a dog. He’s a guy that you know if you’re gonna score, you’re gonna fight for every single thing you’ve got against him,” Temple said.
“More times than not, people just don’t have that fight to be able to go against him. So he’s a really, really big piece to our team, obviously on the defensive end, but even on offensive end as well, finding people when he gets in the game, and being that facilitator that we need.”
Point guard has most commonly been a consistent area of strength over three decades of Raptors basketball, but that changed once Lowry and VanVleet departed. With Quickley and Shead leading the way, things are back to normal at lead guard.
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