Brandon Ingram has been cleared for contact, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports reports (via Twitter). This marks a major step in his rehab with the Raptors, as he continues to work his way back from an ankle injury that prevented him from playing with Toronto following the team trading for him at the 2024 trade deadline.
Lewenberg writes that he’s been participating in individual workouts with the Raptors during the offseason and will start scrimmaging in the next few days.
Head coach Darko Rajakovic seems optimistic about the versatile wing’s return.
“He’s pain-free, he’s moving well, he got stronger. He’s in a really, really great spot,” Lewenberg quotes him as saying.
The Raptors traded multiple valuable rotation players as well as a first-round draft pick and a second-round pick to acquire Ingram. After quickly becoming an expensive team, they will be counting on Ingram to help take the next step towards sustained competitiveness.
We have more from the Raptors:
- Ja’Kobe Walter, the 19th pick in the 2024 draft, is coming into his sophomore season with 12 more pounds of muscle and a readiness to gain some momentum in Summer League, writes Lewenberg for TSN. Last year, the start of his season was beset with injuries that made it difficult to get his feet under him until towards the end of the season, when things started to click. “That was my first time ever being injured and I got injured plenty of times last year,” Walter said. “It was definitely tough for me, but I learned that I love basketball.” While the Raptors’ starting five appears to be set, there is a need for versatile wing contributions off the bench who can mix with the starters, and a strong summer would go a long way to cementing his place in that pecking order.
- Sandro Mamukelashvili spoke recently on why he chose to join the Raptors and how the international connection matters to him. “Coach Darko is a European coach, understands European style of play. A lot of young guys who want to get better, get to the next level together. Nothing better than to be part of something like that,” Lewenberg quotes him as saying (via Twitter). The 6’11” big man also talked about his journeyman start to his career and the search for a home. “I really want to prove that I’m a rotational piece, that I can be in the NBA for 10 years and leave my mark somewhere,” he said, as relayed by Lewenberg (Twitter link). The four-year veteran spent 65 games with the Bucks before playing the next 2.5 seasons with the Spurs. Last year, he averaged 6.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in 11.2 minutes per game, while shooting 37.3% from three.
- Rajakovic spoke on the Raptors’ decision to fire former team president Masai Ujiri. “He brought a lot of success to the organization, but like a lot of things in life, those kinds of situations happen,” he said, per Lewenberg (via Twitter). “We’re going to miss him, but we’re very well equipped to continue moving forward.” Toronto has yet to replace Ujiri, but is expected to look both internally and at external candidates to find its primary decision-maker moving forward.
- Summer League wins might not count in the regular season standings, but that won’t stop the Raptors’ Summer League squad from gunning for the championship, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet. With a large portion of the roster made up of players hoping to be members of the regular season rotation, including Walter, Jamal Shead, Jonathan Mogbo, and recent top-10 pick Collin Murray-Boyles, the team knows that this is a chance to develop chemistry and prove themselves in the eyes of the team’s higher-ups. “We want to be the team that everybody thinks we should. I think, going into the summer league, we’re all excited to play. We’re all hungry,” Shead said after hosting a four-day training camp at his former high school in Austin, Texas.
