LAS VEGAS — Jakob Poeltl’s second Toronto Raptors tenure has been demonstrably more complicated than his first.
When Poeltl started with the Raptors as a lottery pick, the team asked him to develop alongside a group of young players to support its winning core, led by DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. After two seasons, he was traded in 2018. When he came back in February 2023, he was meant to be the glue that held together the Raptors’ core, many of whom came from that group Poeltl was part of as a young player. Those hopes lasted for only as long as Fred VanVleet remained in Toronto. Within a year of Poeltl’s return after his five seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, he was the lone mid-career starter on a rebuilding team.
A year after that, seemingly out of nowhere, the Raptors added a peer for Poeltl: Brandon Ingram. Maybe Poeltl, who could have become a free agent after 2025-26, wasn’t such an outlier on this roster after all.
“Obviously, looking for a contract extension. The fact the front office is going out there and really trying to make moves to make us good right now is a good sign for me,” Poeltl said Saturday, speaking publicly for the first time since agreeing to an extension earlier this month. “I want to compete as soon as possible.”
It is a little much to say Poeltl wouldn’t have signed a deal that could take him through 2029-30, his age-34 season, if not for the Ingram trade. It is a good deal for him, and he loves being a Raptor. But Poeltl also hasn’t played a playoff game since 2018-19. He has played 382 regular-season games over six seasons since then. He desperately wants to get back there.
With Ingram in Toronto, Poeltl has a like-minded teammate.
“We’re making the playoffs, for sure,” Ingram said Saturday.
Ingram, whom the Raptors traded for in February and signed to a three-year, $120 million extension shortly after, will be a huge part of that attempt. In a big step in that journey, Ingram can now play with his teammates for the first time since the trade. He sprained his ankle in December, an injury that surprisingly ended his season. He was finally cleared to play five-on-five basketball late this past week.
Ingram was taken aback by the injury’s persistence. He said most of his previous ankle injuries kept him out for a few weeks, maximum, but this one kept resulting in swelling as he tried to ramp up his activity. The Raptors, playing for extra lottery combinations as much as anything else, had no reason to push Ingram toward playing after the trade, but they still ordered him to get platelet-rich plasma injections late in the season to improve his healing. It was concerning.
“Sometimes I didn’t know when I was going to be healthy,” Ingram said of his recovery.
With the players going their separate ways after the season, there was no chance for Ingram to play with nine of his peers until he rejoined the Raptors in Las Vegas. Some members of the Raptors medical staff monitored his rehab, but this has been the first chance for him to play with his teammates more holistically. Before, Ingram was taking set shots and having discussions with head coach Darko Rajaković and his assistants to get familiar with the Raptors’ style.
Other than that, he couldn’t do much.
“(I missed) the camaraderie with the team, the competitiveness going against other players, just continuing to learn (on the floor). … This ankle injury, I haven’t been able to have any physical contact, do nothing on the basketball floor. But just hearing how Darko spoke, seeing how his assistants move, to be on the floor, doing the things they have asked me to do, it’s been good.”
“I know people know my game a little bit,” Brandon Ingram said. He’s looking forward to demonstrating he has “been a 3-point shooter most of (his) life” and showing “just how much of a competitor” he is. (Gregory Fisher / Imagn Images)
There is justifiable uncertainty and skepticism about how the Raptors will look with Ingram. Ingram’s shot-making in the half court is badly needed, a key complement to Scottie Barnes’ more pass-oriented game. However, Barnes, Ingram and RJ Barrett, while different players, take up similar spots on the floor. Assuming the Raptors start their five highest-paid players, Immanuel Quickley will be the only high-volume 3-point shooter on the floor.
Ingram and Barrett are capable shooters but aren’t necessarily known for running off screens away from the ball to hunt 3s. Poeltl is a non-shooter at centre, so finding ways to create spacing will be essential. The three wings will have to develop in their own ways to make things work offensively — Barnes as a shooter, Ingram as a processor and quick decision-maker, and Barrett as a cutter away from the main action. All of the Raptors’ veterans have been participating in workouts together as the summer league team competes in Vegas.
Defensively, Barrett and Ingram will have to level up to make sure Barnes doesn’t have to absorb every tough wing assignment. Ingram said he appreciated watching the Raptors play aggressively on defence as the season went on and knows he can’t “mess that up.”
“I know people know my game a little bit,” Ingram said. “I think I’ll get a chance to show a little bit more of being the focal point of the offence, that I can show my playmaking skills, moving without the basketball or scoring without the basketball. I’m gonna show them that I’ve been a 3-point shooter most of my life. Just all aspects of the game. I get to show just how much of a competitor I am.”
After spending months as a glorified free-throw shooter, the opportunity will be welcome.
(Top photo: Vaughn Ridley / NBAE via Getty Images)