Lost in the shuffle of NBA trade deadline madness was a deal that sent Brandon Ingram from the New Orleans Pelicans to the Toronto Raptors. Ingram had been a trade candidate for some time, but there was never any noise about which teams were interested in him or if he would even get traded before Thursday’s deadline.
Suddenly, in swoops the Raptors with a deal that sent Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk, a first-round pick and a second-round pick to the Pelicans. It’s a bit of a head scratcher for a team that has won just 16 games this season and looked destined for a top-5 pick in the highly anticipated upcoming NBA draft. If Ingram returns soon from his left ankle sprain, it would likely ensure the Raptors would play themselves out of a top 5 pick, as the Brooklyn Nets sit just a game ahead of them, and the Chicago Bulls — after trading Zach LaVine — could be in store for some more losses along the way.
Brandon Ingram trade grades: Raptors get ‘B-‘ for adding All-Star as Pels bail on pairing with Zion Williamson
Sam Quinn
But despite the trade, when asked about his thoughts on the upcoming draft, Toronto general manager Bobby Webster reiterated on Friday that the team still holds high value in getting the best possible player out of the 2025 NBA Draft.
“I think it’s strong. You guys know I can’t speak specific to any of the players, but scouting these players for a number of years, I think we identified this year’s draft as particularly strong at the top, but also throughout,” Webster said. “So for us, that’s the mission No. 1 now, let’s go out and travel the world and figure out which of these guys — takes me back a little bit to the Tampa year when you start to identify Scottie [Barnes] around this time and sort of, how many difference-makers do you feel like are in the draft. We feel confident, and obviously, the lottery balls and lottery gods will determine where we end up. But that’s our job. To find the players.”
That’s not a declaration of tanking by Webster, and obviously, adding Ingram shows the team doesn’t plan to tank games away for the rest of the season. It actually speaks to Toronto’s plan moving forward. They’re now hoping Ingram will slot in nicely next to Barnes, and then they will try to get another high-value player through the draft this summer.
But it begs the question of whether this was the best route for Toronto to take. With as talented as the top three, four players are in this upcoming draft — led by the presumed No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg — you would think the Raptors, as well as every other team that sits near the bottom of the standings, would want to do everything possible to position themselves well to get that No. 1 pick. That means not trading for Ingram.
Clearly, though, Webster and the rest of Toronto’s front office felt it was a better idea to get Ingram now. This gives them his Bird Rights and allows the Raptors to re-sign him this summer for more money — and years — than any other team.
The deal to re-sign Ingram won’t be cheap, and if lottery balls don’t go the way Toronto hopes, it has now essentially locked into a future of Barnes and Ingram, as well as RJ Barrett, Gradey Dick and Immanuel Quickly. We’ll see if that core of players will amount to anything in the future or if the Raptors will regret not tanking a tiny bit more to get a more secure spot at the top of the draft.
