NBA rumors: Raptors a 'team to watch' for Brandon Ingram trade
01/28/2025 06:37 PM
The NBA trade deadline is just over a week away and all eyes are on the Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler as everyone waits to see where the star forward will end up after his third team-imposed suspension of the season was handed down earlier this week. However, Butler may not be the only star player on the move.
New Orleans Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram has been sidelined due to an ankle injury for the better part of the last two months, but he is still starting to garner interest from around the league. The Toronto Raptors are one team that has been sniffing around to see if Ingram could be available, according to NBA insider Marc Stein.
“Toronto has emerged as a team to watch when it comes to Ingram,” Stein wrote.
The Raptors are also one of the teams that could be involved in a Butler deal as a third team to make the trade work for the Heat and whoever is acquiring Butler, so they have been very involved in trade discussions in recent weeks.
Ingram has been out since Dec. 7 due to a sprained ankle, and he still has not been cleared to do contact drills at practice for a Pelicans squad that has seen its season completely derailed by injures. With New Orleans currently sitting 23 games under .500 and the 27-year old forward in a contract year, it makes sense why it may be time to move on.
The Raptors likely aren’t competing for anything this season — they are 5.5 games out of the play-in picture at the moment — but Scottie Barnes continues to play well and cement himself as a franchise centerpiece moving forward. If Ingram would sign an extension in Toronto and the Raptors could make it work, they would be an interesting team heading into 2025-26.
Ingram would be an interesting fit next to RJ Barrett, who is currently manning the wing for Toronto, but the shot creation that Ingram provides would be a great complement to Barnes’ skillset and would take some pressure off of Immanuel Quickley. Ingram would also fit right in with the Raptors’ tendency to go after long, lanky wings and would give them good size on the perimeter, even if his defense leaves something to be desired at times. All in all, this would be an intriguing move that could vault the Raptors up the hierarchy in the Eastern Conference.
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