{"id":126759,"date":"2025-03-03T16:35:42","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T21:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=126759"},"modified":"2025-03-03T16:35:42","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T21:35:42","slug":"key-toronto-raptors-starter-rj-barrett-brandon-ingram-trade-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/03\/key-toronto-raptors-starter-rj-barrett-brandon-ingram-trade-talks\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Raptors Starter Initially Part of Brandon Ingram Trade Talks?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In February, the Toronto Raptors<\/a> acquired Brandon Ingram<\/a> from the New Orleans Pelicans<\/a> ahead of the trade deadline. Though he has yet to make his debut with the team, many have high hopes for Ingram in Toronto. In return, the Pelicans received Kelly Olynyk<\/a> and Bruce Brown<\/a>. According to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto<\/a>, however, the two teams discussed including another asset in the deal–RJ Barrett<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Barrett, the 2019 No. 3 overall draft pick, is in the midst of his first full season with the Raptors after they acquired him from the New York Knicks<\/a> last year. In Toronto, Barrett is playing some of the best basketball of his career. Still, according to Scotto, his name appeared in initial trade talks for Ingram. Ultimately, the Pelicans “preferred” Brown’s expiring contract and Olynyk’s ability to stretch the floor.<\/p>\n

“RJ Barrett was discussed in trade talks for Brandon Ingram with New Orleans, but the Pelicans preferred the expiring contract of Bruce Brown and stretch-five center Kelly Olynyk, who\u2019s owed $13.45 million next season, league sources told HoopsHype. With Trey Murphy<\/a> III and Herb Jones already on the wing, the Pelicans didn\u2019t view Barrett as a suitable fit for their roster as talks would have necessitated finding a third team, sources said.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Key Raptors Starter Initially Part of Brandon Ingram Trade Talks?<\/h2>\n

Another Team Was Also In On Brandon Ingram<\/h3>\n

Scotto also reported that the Pelicans were not the only team pursuing Ingram at the trade deadline. According to Scotto, the Atlanta Hawks<\/a> were also in play for the former All-Star. While this was known beforehand, it was never revealed how advanced the discussions were and who may have been involved in the deal. Scotto revealed that there were “several three-team trade conversations” between Atlanta and New Orleans. Furthermore, Scotto named De’Andre Hunter<\/a>, Clint Capela<\/a>, Bogdan Bogdanovic<\/a>, and Onyeka Okongwu<\/a> as potential trade candidates.<\/p>\n

“Sources told HoopsHype that the Hawks and Pelicans had several three-team trade conversations, which included two of the following four players leaving Atlanta in different trade scenarios for Ingram that ultimately fell through: Clint Capela, Onyeka Okongwu, De\u2019Andre Hunter, and Bogdan Bogdanovic. Hunter and Bogdanovic were traded to the Cavaliers and Clippers in separate deals. Atlanta is ideally not looking to go over the luxury tax threshold next season, HoopsHype has learned, which will play a role in the team\u2019s roster construction this summer and the futures of those veterans.”<\/p>\n

As Scotto mentions, the Hawks did make some moves at the trade deadline. However, they were mostly sellers. Atlanta moved on from Hunter, Bogdanovic, and Cody Zeller<\/a> in exchange for Georges Niang<\/a>, Caris LeVert<\/a>, Bones Hyland<\/a>, and Terance Mann<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Last Word<\/h3>\n

As it stands, Ingram does not have a concrete timetable for his return from his ankle injury. Ingram suffered this injury in December while with the Pelicans. Still, even if Ingram makes his Raptors debut this season, it is unlikely they will make a postseason appearance. They own the No. 13 seed in the East and are five games behind the No. 10 seed Chicago Bulls<\/a>. Regardless, Ingram’s presence in Toronto will remain something to monitor.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In February, the Toronto Raptors acquired Brandon Ingram from the New Orleans Pelicans ahead of the trade deadline. Though he has yet to make his debut with the team, many have high hopes for Ingram in Toronto. In return, the Pelicans received Kelly Olynyk and Bruce Brown. According to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto, however, the two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4631,"featured_media":126760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,2,62,3,14,4721],"tags":[308,1964],"class_list":["post-126759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-featured","category-nba","category-news","category-raptors","category-trade-rumors","tag-brandon-ingram","tag-rj-barrett"],"modified_by":"Elie Deglaoui","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126759"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126761,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126759\/revisions\/126761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}