[Grange] Reading between the lines and having spoken with some people close to the situation, chances are Ingram's next deal will more likely be an extension — so three years rather than five — and not necessarily for the full max

Some other details of relevance:

As a pending free agent Ingram, 27, had choices heading into the deadline. The Pelicans weren’t going to be able to get a return of any significance without having Ingram give some strong indication that his new team would be in a good position to sign him to a contract. According to sources, Ingram’s two preferred choices were Atlanta and Toronto. That gave the Pelicans something to work with and was a factor in the Raptors sending the Indiana Pacers' top-four protected pick in 2026 and their own 2031 second-round pick to make the deal, though part of the price was that the Pelicans took on the remaining $13.5 million for 2025-26 on Kelly Olynyk’s contract along with Bruck Brown’s expiring contract.

But the Raptors were comfortable making the trade because of what they found doing their due diligence on Ingram as a person and what it will cost to sign him. On the contract front, he’s represented by Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, who the Raptors have had a long-standing, positive relationship with going back to Cory Joseph’s stint with the team a decade ago. As a teammate and person, it’s worth noting Ingram was mentored growing up in Kinston, N.C. by former Raptors 905 head coach and current Golden State Warriors assistant Jerry Stackhouse. The Raptors reached out to their old employee to get a feel for Ingram. They also had the benefit of insights from Raptors assistant coach Mery Andrade, who was with the Pelicans organization for four years before joining Darko Rajakovic’s staff in Toronto last season. And they had the benefit of veteran Garrett Temple’s experience having shared a locker room with Ingram in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons in New Orleans.

But it was interesting that while Webster acknowledged re-signing Ingram and adding his salary to the roughly $118.4 million the Raptors have committed to Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett and Jakob Poeltl next season, he didn’t make it sound like the possibility of heading into the luxury tax was an apocalyptic fireball that has to be avoided at all costs. The luxury tax is projected to kick in at $187.9 million, leaving Toronto about $70 million to pay their remaining 11 players (including Ingram) without going into the penalty. So it will be tight, and it does open the possibility of having to make a trade, but again, Webster didn’t seem too stressed.

“I think we’ve always said, ‘We’re going into the luxury tax when we want to be competitive’. I think the one thing that’s changed maybe since ’17, ’18, ’19 is the teams going into the tax they can’t all feel like they’re contenders, right?” said Webster. “And so I think there’s a bit of a change here, which is ‘Are you going into the tax because you think you can win a title or are you going into the tax because you think you can make the playoffs or the second round’? I think that’s sort of the equilibrium and that’s the balance where we need to find but those are probably decisions for future seasons.”