The fallout of Toronto's blockbuster trade for Brandon Ingram from last night is still fresh, even with a myriad of deals emerging this morning/afternoon.
On the bright side, Raptors fans can marvel at the fact that a 20+ point per game scorer, former All-Star, and a guy who seems to admire the city of Toronto is headed to their team. There's no doubt in my mind that Ingram can elevate this team to new heights—well, anything better than a 16-35 record, that's for sure.
But that's what I'm here to do with all the Raptors buzz, looking at things on the surface, on a deeper layer of analysis, and using history to suggest a projected outcome. And with all those elements in mind, there are a fair bit of red flags to also imply Toronto is repeating some of their missteps of years past with this Brandon Ingram acquistion.
Is history repeating itself for the Toronto Raptors?
For context, let's rewind back to the 2023 trade deadline. That iteration of the Toronto Raptors was not weak enough to be a lottery team, as they were hovering around a play-in tournament berth, ultimately finishing as the ninth seed in the East. Despite Ujiri's fabled statement of "Play-in, for what?" it turned out they settled for mediocrity that year, opting to buy in on welcoming a reunion with ex-Raptors center Jakob Poeltl in a second Toronto stint.
Looking at things now, it doesn't look so horrible given Poeltl's resurgence this year, but at the time, Toronto should've been game-set on selling at that trade deadline as one of the weaker Eastern Conference playoff teams. Instead of trying to make a last-minute push with Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Scottie Barnes, Pascal Siakam, and then Jakob Poeltl; why not clean house instead and stack up on assets to help spearhead a brighter future?
Toronto did end up getting assets down the line for Anunoby and Siakam, but then again, Trent Jr. and VanVleet just walked for nothing. Their 41-41 at that time looks night and day compared to a 16-35 record now, so it's a bit puzzling to see Toronto once again choosing to make win-now moves when all signs point to losing woes.
It might not be the desire of every single Raptors fan, but one visit to a prominent Raptors fan community on social media would tell you that a tanking vision was certainly a popular sentiment. Now, the Raptors could certainly keep losing this season, given Ingram's injury absence and veteran departures opening minutes for the youngins; but then another head-scratcher emerges.
Look, I think Brandon Ingram is a tremendous player, when healthy. He's a versatile scorer and dynamic wing who has great playmaking ability and Ingram's stellar mid-range game is his calling card. Now while he may not be identical to former Raptors star DeMar DeRozan, there are a ton of similarities to suggest Ingram could just be Deebo 2.0 for Toronto.
In the Lowry-DeRozan era, you had a score-first, weak defender in DeRozan leading the charge, while Lowry was there to be an effective court commander, cover DeRozan's defensive lacks, and be a solid number two option. But what happened during that time in Raptors history? The team was a great regular season team, but they always got bounced out of the playoffs when it mattered most.
Can Raptors avoid the same mistakes with Ingram's addition?
In a way, that's exactly what this perceived future iteration of the Raptors will mirror. It's definitely going to be Barnes and Ingram at the helm, with a hodgepodge cast of teammates surrounding them. Ingram has length and was always touted as a Durant-lite, but aside from his scoring prowess, Ingram is very polarizing. Sure, Ingram can hold his own as a defender in spurts (much like RJ Barrett right now), but he's not an elite wing to trust stopping the best 3's and 4's across the league.
Can he get you buckets? You darn skippy he can, and the Raptors desperately needed a guy like that. But look at Ingram's track record. Sure, he's been on some very weak teams in New Orleans and Los Angeles, but has first option Ingram hoops brought any of his rosters to deep playoff success? Maybe one or two good playoff runs for the Pelicans where he was the highlight, and that's about it.
Again, you can't really assess a trade like this until the gears start moving and team chemistry can gel together, but that's where history can teach us a thing or two. For now, the Raptors' current roster construction is a bit jumbled and could use some further reshuffling come draft night or into the offseason, with RJ Barrett standing out as the most likely candidate to be on the move.
While Ingram is not a bad NBA player by any means, he isn't going to be the single game-changer for the Raptors. The job isn't done yet, and Masai Ujiri certainly has a vision in mind, but they need to strike gold on every move here on out.
If not, the Raptors future could look very bleak.