The hope is that a healthy Ingram helps improve the Raptors’ tepid half-court offence, and the backline of Barnes and Poeltl and can make up for some defensive shortcomings on the perimeter. If Ingram plays his best basketball, the cost of the acquisition will seem reasonable.

Ingram is not the same player he was when he made the NBA All-Star team and won the NBA’s Most Improved Player in 2020. But once he is healthy again, he is also potentially good enough to help Toronto win more games, which hurts their ability to get a better pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.