This season just became that much more important for Immanuel Quickley.
The young guard will become a restricted free agent, after the Knicks and Quickley’s representatives were unable to come to terms on a rookie-scale contract extension by Monday’s 6 p.m. deadline, a league source told The Post’s Stefan Bondy.
So, Quickley could really cash in — with the Knicks or someone else — if he follows last year’s breakout campaign with an even better season.
Perhaps the offseason addition of Donte DiVincenzo gave the Knicks pause, since they now have a glut of guards on the roster.
They have otherwise been aggressive in doling out extensions to their players, most notably Julius Randle and RJ Barrett.
Quickley has said all the right things through the preseason, telling reporters on media day that it was all up to the Knicks and his agent. His focus was on the court.
“I feel like I can be better. I feel like I can be a lot better,” Quickley said then. “I feel like there’s a lot of untapped potential that I have in my game. And I’m going to do everything I can, like I’ve always done, to reach that.”
The Knicks still will be able to match any offer Quickley receives on the open market next summer. Ultimately, he’s betting on himself.
The Knicks could opt to move him during the regular season, since Quickley will be on an expiring contract worth just $4.1 million.
It would’ve been much more difficult to deal Quickley had he signed an extension, since those contracts typically have a “poison pill” provision — it creates a gap between incoming and outgoing salary — that makes such trades unlikely.
Teams such as the Spurs, Magic, Pistons, 76ers and Hornets are projected to have significant salary-cap space they could use to sign Quickley this summer.
Earlier on Monday, the Timberwolves gave wing Jaden McDaniels a whopping five-year, $136 million extension, ESPN reported.
McDaniels was drafted the same year as Quickley, and is at best a similar player to Quickley in terms of the impact he makes on the game.
One big difference, however, is that McDaniels is a starter, and Quickley is unlikely to become a starter with the Knicks as long as Jalen Brunson is around.
A first-round pick (25th overall) in 2020, the 24-year-old Quickley is coming off by far the best season of his young career.
He emerged as a key piece for the Knicks last season as the Sixth Man of the Year runner-up to Malcolm Brogdon.
Quickley set career-highs in scoring (14.9), rebounds (4.2), steals (1.0) and field-goal percentage (44.8), helping the Knicks enjoy their best season in a decade.
He was one of their best two-way players, their leader in defensive rating (108.1) and third in NET rating (plus-6.2), as the Knicks outscored the opposition by 6.2 points per 100 possessions when Quickley was on the floor
He struggled in the postseason, before suffering an ankle injury in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Heat that ended his year.
But the arrow is clearly pointing upwards for the former Kentucky star.
“Just keep improving. Keep doing the things you’re doing,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “I love Quick. I love who he is. He can play the point. He can play off the ball. He’s good in pick-and-rolls. Very good defensively. Rebounds the ball well for his size. And he can play a lot of different roles for your team, but his hunger to improve is what makes him who he is.”
Odds are, he will be even hungrier this season. His future may depend on it.
