SIMMONS: Is Brandon Ingram a $40-million bust for Raptors?

Brandon Ingram was supposed to be the Raptors best offensive threat, but then the playoffs started and he stopped scoring.

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Published Apr 22, 2026  •  4 minute read

Toronto Raptors forward Brandon Ingram reacts during a game earlier this season. AP Photo

When you commit the enormous sum of $120 million to a single player — doesn’t matter the sport — the expectation remains the same.

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Greatness.

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When you commit $40 million a season — that was the combined salary of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander way back when — the expectation remains this same.

Greatness.

Brandon Ingram was an enormous gamble by the Raptors from Day 1 and it’s now one certainly easy to wonder about after two games in this playoff series with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He barely played in the four seasons before the Raps dealt for him. They brought him in February 2025 and he didn’t play a game — all the while they hoped they had a lower-level Kawhi Leonard on their hands. And it was then they decided to throw the bank at him.

More per season than Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is paid. Almost three times what the Maple Leafs pay Matthews. More than 50% greater than what the Blue Jays pay star George Springer or Kevin Gausman.

And he did what most of us would have done: He took the money.

He agreed to the $40 million per year and left the greatness behind. He got paid great-player money for being a good NBA player.

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At playoff time, there is a distinction between that. Great players change games, change series. Good players, not playing well, not so much.

Ingram got paid difference-maker money for a player who, to date, can’t seem to make a difference when it matters most.

Could this get even worse?

Bigger picture, there is even more reason to be concerned about the present and certainly the future with the Raptors. The Ingram contract isn’t about to go away. It’s three years and $120 million. This is Year 1.

If the Raps have this much salary cap money tied up in someone who can’t produce at the level needed, what happens next year and the year after that?

Through two games of this NBA playoff series between the Raptors and Cavs, Ingram has been something of a lost cause. The Raptors have lost both games and haven’t led in the second half of either game. Not for a moment. Not by a point.

Ingram only took nine shots in a rather inactive Game 1. He made just three field goals in shooting more and scoring less in Game 2. Seven points in the second game for a player already under question for a Game 1 performance was hardly encouraging.

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“I don’t want to make this about what I’m doing,” Ingram whispered Wednesday afternoon. “When you’re not going your job, you either stay in it emotionally or you got to figure it out.”

Ingram won’t dismiss the disappointment of the first two games. He actually prefers to wallow in his personal misery just a little before getting ready for Game 3 on Thursday night at Scotiabank Arena.

“I like to sit in disappointment for a little bit and see where I went wrong,” he said. “You’ve got to understand this isn’t the first time this has happened.”

His goal now: “To have fun, play hard, be there for my team.”

So far, he’s 0-for-3 on that.

Through two playoff games, the $40-million Ingram has looked a little bit like the worst of playoff DeMar DeRozan in Toronto. That’s not helpful for anyone, least of all the soon-to-be-former owner, Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of the NBA board, who was sitting courtside in Cleveland for two games with a pained expression on his face every times the camera closed up on him.

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That’s some of his money paying Ingram $40 million a year. Even if the historically optimistic Tanenbaum had to be troubled by what he saw of Ingram in the two Cleveland games.

How does Ingram compare to the Cavs’ stars?

Donovan Mitchell is paid $46 million by the Cavaliers. That’s big-time money for a big-time player. Mitchell, who averaged almost 28 points a game during the season — seventh best in the NBA — has scored 62 points in two games against the Raptors.

Mitchell has been exceptional in the series. Averaging 31 points against the Raps, Mitchell is second in playoff scoring to date. Taking your breath away on occasion.

Ingram, averaging 12 a game, sits 60th in playoff scoring.

Thirty-sixth in NBA salary. 60th in scoring to date. It’s tough to make sense of the Raptors accounting, with $40 million a year paid to Ingram, almost $20 million for Jakub Poeltl — who is likely to be sent to the bench for Game 3 — and $32 million for the perpetually injured Immanuel Quickley.

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That’s almost $100 million spent on players under question.

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For now, coach Darko Rajakovic does not seem upset by Ingram’s lack of production, at least not for public consumption.

“Being around Brandon for a year, he cares about winning so much,” the coach said. “He wants to play to his own standard. He wants to win. Seven days ago he was Eastern Conference player of the week, he was the best in the world. Everyone was kissing him … I have the utmost trust in him.”

Somebody has to.

Said Ingram, who may or may not have the utmost faith in himself: “I’m confident that I won’t miss all my shots.”

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