Brandon Ingram makes raptors better but trade flies in light of their reconstruction

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Just more than a year ago, Toronto Raptors traded their 6-foot-9 All-Star Forward.

It was time – beyond time. Raptors had already traded and Anunoby, so Pascal Siakam had to go next to really handing the franchise to Scottie Barnes, then in his third year.

After trade, Raptor President Masai Ujiri was aware of what was coming next.

“I don’t know (about) to call this a reconstruction or a reset, or we will say it, but a normal reconstruction with other teams takes … five, six years. Do we have the patience for it? “Said Ujiri. “Do we have the patience for three to five years and build our team? Somehow, somehow, we will have to have patience. And one of the things that I tell you, a hundred percent, I don’t want to bs anyone on it I’m patient. “

Ujiri’s mindset has changed sometime between then and now. Late Wednesday night, Raptors Brandon Ingram-Han acquired only 6-FOD-8, which hurts the symmetry-from New Orleans Pelicans for Kelly Olynyk, Bruce Brown, another round pick and, funny enough, the final of three first-round picks The Raptors got to Siakam. It’s Pacers’ 2026 elections, Top-four protected. When a member of Raptors Front Office talks Thursday after 7 p.m. 15 an NBA trading deadline, he would say that Ingram’s talent made costs tasty.

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It may end up being true, which does not make the timing less bisarr for raptors that will be in the lottery again. They went into Thursday’s matches with the league’s fifth-worst record. They have a very easy schedule down on the stretch, making them probably jump a team or two in front of them. They would still have had decent chances of moving up and changing their vision.

They could still, but the picture becomes muddier. 27-year-old Ingram has not played since December 7 due to a severe ankle sprain. The Pelicans had not announced that he was approaching a return, though he should be available soon enough. When he plays, he had to help Raptors win more games that until trade, pretty much worked next to this season.

Ingram is a fine enough fit. He is the intermediate ace that Raptors do not have, shooting 48.1 percent from between 10 meters away from the edge and the 3-point arch, well above the league average, last year. Raptors are missing a player who can get his shot at the end of a lost possession, and Ingram can do it in a way that Barnes cannot. Ingram has also improved his playmaking over the years and settled just about six assists per year. 36 minutes over each of the last four years. He is a medium-sized 36.3 percent 3-point shooter for his career, but was up to 37.4 percent to start this year on much higher volume.

He has at times had a reputation as a ball stopper, and we will see how it fits within coach Darko Rajakovic’s violation. He has the length to be an effective defender, but he has just had a good time in his career.

The potential problems in the court do not feel very relevant. Ingram is in the heart of his prime minister and goes into unlimited free agency. This is the second time in three years that Raptors acquired a starting calibr player before the deadline that meets that description while outside a play-in tournament site in the position.

In 2023 with Jakob Poeltl there was some logic. Raptors had a veteran core with an obvious hole in the middle. It was the front office’s attempt to see if this group could be saved.

With these raptors, the future should be ahead of them. Ingram is by no means old, but he has missed at least 27 games in three of his last four seasons and has played in more than 80 percent of his team’s matches only twice in nine years.

The past does not dictate the future and Ingram could be healthier in Toronto. Raptors will still have a delicate financial dance to do, even though getting off Olynyk’s $ 13.4 million for next year helps. Without Ingram, Raptor owes about $ 137 million to nine players next year-that, without explaining their first round of choices if they assume they are holding it. Very few teams are likely to be significant under the salary taket next year to make Ingram a big offer, but Raptors also don’t have a story of pushing their own free agents. When they gave up a first round of choices to get him, you can expect them to make a strong offer and it would conservatively reach about $ 35 million annually.

If the league’s wage capital (and consequently tax threshold) is increasing with the maximum 10 percent, Raptor has some room to maneuver. With NBA’s new TV contracts that kick in, it seems likely. Raptors still have to think long and hard on whether you commit to both Ingram and RJ Barrett, another wing that is not a 3-point specialist makes sense. Barrett is eligible for extension this season, although he still has two years back on his appointment.

The hope is that a healthy Ingram will help improve Raptors’ warm half -course violation and backline of Barnes and Poeltl and can compensate for some defensive shortcomings on the perimeter. If Ingram plays its best basketball, the cost of acquisition will seem reasonable.

It is rubbing that Raptors felt the need to make this step, even surrendering modest Pick Equity, a little more than a year after they had finally settled on a rebuilding path. The team’s ceiling doesn’t feel high enough to guarantee it. Not only does it remember the Poeltl trade because of the career phase that the player was in, but also the Rudy Gay acquisition of 2013, when Raptors added a good but not the top talent to a list that was not ready to win.

These raptors are not ready to win. They are 16-35. Injuries explain some of it, but not the majority. Raptors could still get some lottery luck, and then they might be able to have it both ways, with the capacity to have moderate success in the short term while developing high potential talent behind Ingram. Maybe they will move Barrett and ominate the core. There are ways for this to make more sense soon.

Still, this situation required patience. Raptors are better today than they were yesterday. However, they are not better placed.

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(Photo by Brandon Ingram Against Raptors in 2024: Matthew Hinton / Imag images)