The Toronto Raptors signed Brandon Ingram to a three-year extension for less than his max. It's still an expensive and risky deal.
New Toronto Raptors star Brandon Ingram has agreed to a three-year, $120 million contract extension with the franchise, including a player option in 2027-28, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, agents Shy Saee and Mike George told me and @BobbyMarks42. pic.twitter.com/rN9D2qZW1c
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 11, 2025
Ingram signed a three-year deal with Toronto for $120M, with the third year being a player option. That's less than the maximum contract Ingram could have received in free agency, but it's still a huge salary — plus a deal that gives Ingram all the upside. Either he outperforms the deal and becomes a free agent in two seasons, or he disappoints, and the Raptors are stuck with him for an expensive third year.
It also locks the Raptors into a young core that's not cheap by any means. Since July, Toronto has signed 23-year-old Scottie Barnes to a five-year extension that could be worth up to $270M, 25-year-old Immanuel Quickley to a five-year, $175M deal. Now the 27-year-old Ingram joins them, along with 25-year-old R.J. Barrett, signed for over $57M for 2025-27.
They'll be paying that quartet $144M in the 2026-27 season, meaning that the Raptors, currently 17-37, will be pushing against the luxury tax as early as next season. They've bet big on some players who really haven't done much this season.
Quickley's injuries have limited him to 14 games this season. Ingram has played in only 18, and has missed 118 games (and counting) in the last four seasons — almost 30 per year. Barnes missed 14 games this season and 20 in 2023-24. Barrett missed 13 games this season and 24 last season.
While the Raptors have been turning over their roster the past two seasons, shipping out longtime players Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby, they've had a bottom-six defense in the NBA. The team makes the second-fewest three-pointers in the league. Ingram could help that, but he's only a 36.3 percent shooter for his career. Quickley shoots 37.4 percent, while Barrett's under 35 percent and Barnes barely cracks 30 percent.
It all adds up to a strange decision to give up a first-round pick and a huge contract to add Ingram, particularly because this team doesn't seem one player away from contention. Perhaps the Raptors are counting on landing a stud in this year's draft (they have the fifth-best lottery odds), but overall, it looks like team president Masai Ujiri got sick of losing and decided to go all-in.
For a squad that looks like a marginal playoff team even if they're healthy. With this Ingram move, the Raptors may have gotten themselves closer to another sell-off of expensive players — and no closer to contention.
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One of the most lopsided trades of the last decade in the NBA was a "hallway" trade between the Lakers and Clippers. NBA veteran Mike Muscala was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Ivica Zubac, a young center at the time who needed development, along with Michael Beasley. In a win-now move for the Lakers in their first season with LeBron James, they gave up on a young center that showed promise, for a stretch big that the Lakers felt could help them get to the playoffs.
Oregon wide receiver Jurrion Dickey has struggled to live up to expectations in his first two seasons with the Ducks, and he is now in a terrible position heading into 2025 as well. Dickey has been suspended indefinitely by Oregon, head coach Dan Lanning announced on Tuesday. Lanning also suggested that Dickey may not play for the Ducks again. "We have two team rules; that’s respectful, be on time,” Lanning said, via James Crepea of The Oregonian. “There’s some pieces of that where I felt like he needed a break from us and we needed a break from that so we could focus on what’s in front of us right now. "Wishing him nothing but the best, as far as success and want to see him get back to where he can be a contributor somewhere; that might be here that might be somewhere else.” Dickey was a five-star recruit and rated as one of the top wide receivers in the country when he came out of Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, California, in 2023. He suffered an injury in his senior year in high school and redshirted as a freshman at Oregon. Dickey has two catches for 14 years during his time with the Ducks. Oregon went 13-1 in Lanning's third season with the program last season. The Ducks lost to eventual national champion Ohio State in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.
Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber is in the midst of another impressive season. Schwarber entered Wednesday having posted a .249/.373/.578 batting line in his 528 plate appearances this season, hitting 42 homers while driving in a National League-leading 97 runs. The Phillies slugger was named to his third All-Star Game this season and, according to NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, he should be the NL MVP. Schwarber has been one of baseball's premier power hitters since establishing himself in the majors in 2017. He's in his eighth season of hitting 30 or more homers and has reached the 40-homer plateau three times in his four seasons in Philadelphia. The 32-year-old Schwarber may find himself in elite company when his career comes to an end. He has already hit 326 homers in his career, potentially giving him a chance to reach the 500-home run plateau. If Schwarber does hit 500-plus homers, the narrative around his career may change. There have only been 28 players in MLB history to reach that plateau, 19 of whom are in the Hall of Fame. Two players — Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera — are not yet eligible and are expected to be enshrined on the first ballot. The seven players who have not been inducted into the Hall of Fame have been linked to PED use, torpedoing their candidacy. At the same time, his entire candidacy may be based on his home run total. Schwarber has a lifetime .232/.346/.499 batting line over 5,188 plate appearances; although batting average no longer carries much weight for the voters, he would have the lowest batting average of any non-pitcher in the Hall. His 20.7 fWAR has been dragged down by his defense and is unlikely to make him a favorite among the younger voters who put more emphasis on such metrics. Schwarber is marching toward the 500-home run plateau. If he does reach that mark, he could be a polarizing Hall of Fame candidate.
New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields was a little more accurate on Wednesday than he was in his "alarming" performance during joint practice with the New York Giants on Tuesday. Still, the fifth-year quarterback had a familiar issue pop up. Per Dan Duggan and Charlotte Carroll of The Athletic, Fields took several sacks against a Giants defense that brought the house on a shaky Jets offensive line. Via The Athletic: "On the other field, the Giants defensive front carried over its domination from Tuesday, giving Jets quarterback Justin Fields and his offensive line plenty of problems. Camp stats are subjective, especially when it comes to sacks, but the Giants appeared to get to Fields for four sacks. "Similar to Tuesday, there were moments when it was hard to tell exactly who was causing problems as the Giants sent multiple bodies in the backfield. Fields, who went 7-of-11 on the day, had a few overthrows on plays that likely were sacks." Fields did have a couple of long runs on a Giants defense that struggled against the rush in 2024. While Fields has a unique ability to add to the running game, the Jets need the 2021 first-round pick to push the ball down the field in the passing game. Fields has always had a problem with being indecisive in the pocket, leading to his taking too many sacks since entering the league. He led the league with 55 sacks in 2022 and has taken 151 in his four-year career. The Ohio State product took 16 sacks during his six starts with the Pittsburgh Steelers last season. In camp, Fields doesn't have to worry about taking body blows from sacks that lead to injuries. That will happen in the regular season if he plays how he practiced on Wednesday.
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