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The New Orleans Pelicans are open to moving Brandon Ingram at the NBA trade deadline, and the Toronto Raptors are interested. So where are we with this potential trade? The latest update is that the Raptors may be interested, and the Pelicans may like what they would potentially get in return, but the truth is, no one really knows at this point.
“The intensity of the discussions is hard to gauge,” Sportsnet's Raptors reporter Michael Grange shares. “There’s a sense that if the opportunity was right, they would like to add a ‘significant piece' to pair with Scottie Barnes and shift the program from ‘rebuilding' to ‘competing' sooner rather than later.
“No one I’ve spoken with denies that Ingram has been on Toronto’s radar or that they’ve reached any kind of conclusion one way or the other.”
Grange also notes that the Raptors could easily put together a nice Brandon Ingram trade package with RJ Barrett, Davion Mitchell, and draft picks.
That gives the Pelicans a player in Barrett, who is three years younger than Ingram and an expiring contract in Mitchell. It would also reunite Barrett and Zion Williamson, who played their one year of college basketball at Duke together.
This is not a no-brainer deal for either side, though. Brandon Ingram has excellent stats but plays in the midrange, which is not ideal in the 2025 NBA. He is also injury-prone.
The former Los Angeles Laker hasn't played more than 62 games since his rookie season and has played fewer than 60 games in four out of his first eight campaigns. Currently, he has been out for eight weeks with a high ankle sprain, an injury that usually takes about a month to recover from.
Finally, the Raptors would have to know that Ingram would sign an extension with the club as he is a free agent at season's end.
Grange concludes that, “The simplest solution for the Raptors might be to hang on to Barrett, hope his development curve continues to trend positively, and that there’s a contract in the future that makes sense for both sides.”
However, the Raptors are a team that desperately needs to try something different around Scottie Barnes, and giving Brandon Ingram a change of scenery at the NBA trade deadline could work out great for all involved.
