The Toronto Raptors came painfully close to upsetting the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs, falling short in Game 7. Surprisingly, they were able to push Cleveland to the limit without two of their starters at full strength.
Immanuel Quickley missed the entire series, while Brandon Ingram missed the final two games and was apparently dealing with his heel injury throughout the matchup. Being able to exceed expectations without two key players begs a natural question: how important are those players?
Bill Simmons floats stunning Ingram-for-Durant idea
Bill Simmons recently questioned Brandon Ingram’s importance to Toronto, suggesting that the Raptors should look into moving Ingram in a potential Kevin Durant deal.
The rationale for the trade was fairly straightforward: Toronto just exceeded expectations with Ingram either missing games or playing far below his usual level, while Houston had post-All-Star locker room discomfort involving Durant. Both teams could have reason to at least think about moving off their All-Star forwards.
That puts Toronto in an awkward position. Does a Durant-for-Ingram deal make sense?
Even at 37 years old, Kevin Durant is the superior player to the 28-year-old Brandon Ingram. This season, Durant averaged more points than Ingram ever has in a single season, while remaining more efficient than Ingram has ever been.
The obvious question is how long Durant can keep producing at that level. Ingram should be able to maintain his reasonably efficient, low-20s scoring for the foreseeable future.
The Raptors have a young nucleus that showed its long-term potential to everyone in the NBA with a hard-fought series against the Cavaliers. That is what makes this idea so fascinating. Toronto proved it is close, but the series also exposed the two things still holding this team back: three-point shooting and reliable offensive shot creation.
Durant would immediately address both problems. He is one of the best shooters of his generation and one of the greatest shot-creators in league history. For a Raptors team built around Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Jakob Poeltl, and several promising young pieces, adding Durant would be a massive swing toward immediate contention.
From a trade perspective, the two players are also close in salary for next season, making a potential deal much easier to build.
That does not mean Toronto should rush into it. Ingram is younger, fits the team’s timeline more naturally, and gives Toronto a longer runway with its current core. Durant would raise Toronto’s ceiling over the next couple of years, but that would also push the team into immediate win-now mode.
Ultimately, one-for-one All-Star trade swaps are rare, and there is no telling whether Houston is even entertaining trade proposals for the 16-time All-Star. Still, if the Raptors’ front office believes Ingram’s production is not enough to push this core into true contention, Durant is the kind of swing that could push Toronto further.
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