Raptors’ $120 million Brandon Ingram gamble looking like a steal. Are they a real contender?

The Toronto Raptors entered the 2025-26 season having won just 55 games over the past two seasons. For reference, their 2019 title-winning squad won 58 games, and the year after that, they won 53 in 72 games. That’s how far the Raptors have fallen, and it was not quite clear when they would be returning to their usual contending ways from 2014 to 2022.

It was a bit of a head-scratcher then when it was the Raptors became the team to trade for Brandon Ingram. Ingram was falling out of favor with the New Orleans Pelicans, and he was approaching free agency. The Pelicans were then hesitant to offer him a contract extension, paving the way for Toronto to acquire him.

To protect their investment, the Raptors came to terms with Ingram on a three-year, $120 million contract extension even though the versatile scoring wing, at the time, was out with persistent ankle issues. Ingram even played in just 18 games last year for the Pelicans, making that a risky maneuver for Toronto.

This only further complicated the Raptors’ cap sheet, as they were now on the hook on big-money ideals for the likes of Ingram, Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, and RJ Barrett. They also signed Jakob Poeltl to a contract extension, clogging their cap sheet even further.

Little did everyone know at the time that this was simply Masai Ujiri’s genius at work. Now, the Raptors didn’t exactly let go of Ujiri because of his roster-building vision. They were also not opposed to him clogging the team’s cap sheet. They simply did not come to terms with him on a new contract extension.

But Ingram is proving to be every bit the star the Raptors needed to take the next step. Do they have what it takes to contend in the Eastern Conference?

How is Brandon Ingram changing the Raptors’ fortunes?

On Wednesday night, with an opportunity to go 4-0 in NBA Cup group stage action, the Raptors found themselves in a closer-than-anticipated contest against the moribund Indiana Pacers. The game was tied at 95 with less than 10 seconds remaining in the game. The Raptors have many capable players, with Barnes and Quickley being two of those players.

Instead of going at it himself, Quickley deferred to Ingram — handing over the ball near the halfcourt line for him to take on Pascal Siakam in isolation. Ingram then took his time almost nonchalantly before attacking Siakam, stopping on a dime from midrange and pulling up for his favorite 14-footer, swishing home the go-ahead bucket for the Raptors en route to a 97-95 victory.

This moment was very telling. Quickley easily could have called his own number and tried to get the Raptors the win himself. Barnes, as the Raptors’ supermax guy, could have demanded the ball in the post to try and at least attract the defenders to create an open look.

But for the Raptors’ first instinct to be to give the ball to Ingram and let him go to work is pretty telling of how the team views him. He is the team’s go-to-guy, and Barnes even said as much when he revealed that part of the team’s game plan is to “give Ingram the ball and get out of the way.”

Ingram is the kind of wing shot creator every contending team needs these days. He can score from all three levels, and he thrives whenever he’s the go-to-guy on a team that can give him sufficient support in the other areas of the game he tends to lack in. For instance, the Pelicans-Oklahoma City Thunder playoff series in 2024 exposed a lot of deficiencies in Ingram’s game.

If he’s outright the best player on the team, Ingram can struggle. Luguentz Dort locked him up during that playoff series, and with the Pelicans lacking other sufficient shot-creators outside of him and CJ McCollum, Ingram looked lost — averaging just 14.3 points on 34.5 percent shooting from the field.

But this Raptors team can surround him with the exact kind of weapons he needs to succeed. He has incredible defensive players around him in Poeltl and Barnes. Ingram can struggle with getting to the basket at times; Barrett is the team’s best slasher and allows the team to put pressure on the rim. He’s not the team’s primary ballhandler as well; Quickley is blossoming into a responsible floor general who is organizing the team’s offense. There’s no coincidence that the Raptors are posting the league’s fourth-best offense at the moment.

There are so many complementary skillsets on this Raptors roster, and they are thriving as a result. They needed a tall perimeter shot-creator who can get his buckets during clutch moments, and that’s exactly what Ingram brings to this roster.

Can Toronto compete in the East?

The Eastern Conference is wide-open at the moment. The New York Knicks are reeling. The Boston Celtics are shorthanded. That Detroit Pistons team has been very impressive, but they don’t have a track record of success. Is anyone even going to trust the Cleveland Cavaliers in a playoff scenario?

The good thing about this Raptors roster is that there is so much playoff viability for their main guys on the roster. Barnes is a two-way force who can defend anyone on the floor.

They also have the upside of a few young, two-way players such as Collin Murray-Boyles, Ja’Kobe Walter, and Ochai Agbaji on the squad. Walter, in particular, played so well against the Pacers that he ended up earning crunch-time minutes (he was a plus-21 on the night). Gradey Dick also looms as an X-factor, a potential scoring machine who’s yet to hit his stride this season.

It’s too early to tell whether or not this Raptors team can truly contend or whether they’re just a mere pretender. But their net rating of plus-6.5 to begin the year is a promising sign that they’re not just lucking into these wins. They’ve won nine straight and are up to 14-5 on the season, and things are looking up in the North.

The Raptors are doing plenty of sustainable things in their everybody eats offense led by Ingram. And considering how well they’ve been playing in dominating against a soft schedule, they might be able to translate this kind of play when they compete against more difficult opposition.

Verdict: Real contender, especially in the East

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