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While Brandon Ingram certainly would have liked to mark his return to health with an All-Star spot, here’s the reality: The Raptors desperately need both Ingram and Scottie Barnes at full power to make real noise in the Eastern Conference. And so long as they’re healthy, they allow each other to be their best selves. “I really do think that they complement each other,” Rajaković said. “They’re different types of players. There are things that Brandon does at an elite level and there are things that Scottie is doing … at (an) elite level, but they’re so different.
![Brandon Ingram: [Laughs]. I don’t know if we would’ve …](https://sportsdata.usatoday.com/gcdn/content-pipeline-sports-images/sports2/nba/players/214152.png?format=png8&auto=webp&quality=85,75&width=140)
During that 2018-19 Lakers season, things were looking bright until LeBron James went down with a groin injury. Do you think that squad was talented enough to make the Finals if everyone had stayed healthy? Brandon Ingram: [Laughs]. I don’t know if we would’ve made the Finals, but I will say we were a very talented team. We had our young core in their second and third years—Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Kyle Kuzma, Ivica Zubac. We had LeBron, Rondo, and Michael Beasley. It was a smart group. We would have had a chance, but we were also pretty inexperienced. I’m not sure about the Finals, but we were definitely talented enough to make a real run in the playoffs.
Josh Lewenberg: And there it is. Ingram will play.
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Blake Murphy: Brandon Ingram is questionable tonight. RJ Barrett, Jakob Poeltl, Chucky Hepburn remain out. Scottie Barnes good to go on B2B.
Toronto's various discussions involving those players had led to a belief among numerous rival teams that its post-Masai Ujiri front office, now headed by Bobby Webster, is facing some win-now pressure to do something as splashy as last winter's acquisition of Brandon Ingram. Translation: The Raptors might decide to make a trade play for Memphis’ suddenly available Ja Morant.
Josh Lewenberg: Barnes is available today vs Philly. Ingram is out but getting close to a return. Barrett had already been ruled out - he’s also day-to-day. As for Poeltl, Darko reiterates that back injuries are unpredictable and says there’s no timetable for his return.
Tim Bontemps: Final: Celtics 125, Raptors 117 Boston remains alone in third in the East behind 27 from Payton Pritchard and 25 from Jaylen Brown against a Raptors team that was competitive without Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram, but didn't have enough. Boston hosts San Antonio tomorrow.
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Josh Lewenberg: Raptors will be without 3 starters in Boston tonight. Scottie Barnes (knee) and Brandon Ingram (thumb) will both miss their first game of the season.
Brandon Ingram, who was dealing with a nasty ankle sprain at the time, did not play a single minute for the Raptors last season after they acquired him, even after agreeing to a three-year, $120 million extension at the time of the trade. "This is what life is like under our [draft] lottery system, with partially protected draft picks," one executive said. "You have one team [the Hawks] that doesn't have its pick trading a player because they were losing too much when he was playing. "And you have another team [the Wizards] who desperately needs to keep its pick who may find a reason not to play the same player because they might win too much if he plays."
Josh Lewenberg: No Jakob Poeltl in Boston tomorrow. Sounds like he’s getting close but still out. Brandon Ingram (right thumb sprain) and Scottie Barnes (right knee sprain) are both questionable.
Josh Lewenberg: Brandon Ingram is done for the night with a right thumb sprain. And so, the team that mustered just 45 first-half points on 2-of-20 shooting from 3-point range (and 3 points from the bench) will now be without its best offensive player.
