The Toronto Raptors decided on a new direction last season and Precious Achiuwa was a casualty of that.
He was moved in a blockbuster trade that sent him, O.G. Anunoby and Malachi Flynn to the New York Knicks for RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and the Detroit Pistons’ 2024 second-round pick which ended up becoming Jonathan Mogbo.
Since moving to New York, Achiuwa had some spurts of good play, but head coach Tom Thibodeau is known for his tight rotations. This resulted in limited playing for Achiuwa once the playoffs started.
However, due to the Knicks sustaining frontcourt injuries towards the end of their postseason run, Achiuwa was thrusted back into the rotation.
Now, the former Raptor is set to enter unrestricted free agency. As New York did not extend a qualifying offer to Achiuwa due to their re-signing of Anunoby and acquisition of Mikal Bridges, via Fred Katz of The Athletic:
The Knicks did NOT extend the $6.3M qualifying offer to Precious Achiuwa, league sources said. Knicks have not ruled out bringing Achiuwa back, but if he picked up the QO, it would eat into their hard cap situation a lot.
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) June 29, 2024
As NBA free agency kicks off today at 6 p.m. EST, it will be interesting to see which teams are interested in Achiuwa’s services.
When looking at potential centers on the market, there are not too many options. This could mean a playoff contending team could take a flyer on him and see if he pans out.
The Knicks have not ruled out bringing back Achiuwa, but it will be difficult to see him returning to New York.
Knicks’ Precious Achiuwa shines in return to Toronto
March 27 featured Anunoby’s return to Scotiabank Arena, but he was unfortunately ruled out with an elbow injury.
However, Achiuwa made his return to Toronto too, putting up an impressive performance. In 27 minutes, the former Raptor put up 19 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks on 8-for-13 shooting from the field.
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