We've had quite the eventful NBA news day, with news of LeBron James' desire to move on from Los Angeles to explore a new destination (it could be a Cavs reunion on the horizon), while Raptors fans got their ultimate delight with the Kawhi Leonard trade being made official.
Brandon Ingram's rumored inclusion in the deal had been circulating over the last few days, and what do you know, he is the headlining player asset in the trade alongside Gradey Dick. Now that the short-lived Notorious B.I.3 era in Toronto is all said and done, we have a pretty wild butterfly effect chain to look back on in terms of how the Raptors got to this point.
The Raptors acquired Ingram at the 2025 trade deadline for a modest package featuring Bruce Brown Jr., Kelly Olynyk, a 2026 first-round pick, and a 2031 second-round pick. Then, the Raptors promptly extended Brandon Ingram to a three-year, $120 million extension to keep him around Toronto for the forseeable future.
It certainly looked like the Raps were trying to build an optimistic contender-in-the-making around BI and Scottie Barnes, but they pounced at the opportunity to reunite with Kawhi and cashed in on using Ingram's salary — one that quickly garnered backlash after his weak playoff showing.
Big Brandon Ingram swing directly led to a huge Kawhi Leonard reunion for the Raptors
If we want to inflate the allure of this deal a little further too, then you could dissect the flowing pieces from the deal and see that Toronto essentially turned Pascal Siakam to Brandon Ingram to Kawhi Leonard. Bruce Brown was largely the matching player salary in the Siakam deal, getting flipped to headline a BI deal, and BI, in turn, spearheads the Leonard trade.
Quite the mix of domino effects, for sure.
Overall, though, I think it would be fair to say Toronto won this bold experiment with Brandon Ingram. I highly doubt they could've envisioned having all these coincidental moves falling into place, but looking back, it looks like the Raptors played chess and not checkers with the Brandon Ingram trade — whether they knew it or not.
The Raptors got a true gamer in BI, who was largely the first star (or fringe star) to openly express their desire to land in Toronto, served his purpose of being a productive offensive engine (led the team in scoring), got to revel in All-Star glory once again, and all of that done in just a single season before getting flipped to bring back a more proven, ceiling-raiser star.
You have to tip your hat to Ingram for his short, but important contributions to the Raptors franchise. Say what you will about his lackluster postseason showing, but without BI, I don't know if Toronto would've still easily embarked on a 46-36 regular season record. And for that, the Raptors should be more than thankful.
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