With less than two weeks left in the regular season, NBA fans are being treated to some of the most blatant tanking efforts ever. Tanking szn is definitely here, and the Toronto Raptors have been quietly tanking in fairly clever ways. There is Toronto's starting center, Jakob Poeltl, resting every other game for…reasons, and then there's what they are doing with Brandon Ingram.
Ingram severely sprained his ankle back on December 5th, 2024, while he was still a member of the New Orleans Pelicans. As someone who has severely injured their ankle before, it's no walk in the park.
In fact, sprained ankles prevent those kinds of walks, but what's unusual about his injury is that it has kept him out for four months. This is noteworthy, given that even the most severe sprains typically heal within 6 weeks.
The Toronto Raptors keeping a healthy Brandon Ingram out is shamelessly tanking
His absence is surprising but not for the reasons one would expect. It's obvious that the Raptors are strategically resting him and are hoping to keep him out for the remainder of the regular season after acquiring him at the trade deadline.
That would allow them to have their cake and eat it too. They will be able to acquire an All-Star at the trade deadline and keep him out for the entire remainder of the season. That should secure them a high lottery pick that is shaping up to be seventh overall in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Considering how the NBA implemented rules against resting stars, it seems contradictory that they would allow the Raptors to do so. Especially with how brazen they have been. So much so that ESPN's Brian Windhorst recently took a stray shot at the Raptors for how they've skirted the rules by sitting Ingram for far longer than normal.
The Raptors are right to break the rules, especially with the NBA doing nothing to stop them.
In defense of the Raptors, by the time he was traded, the Pelicans had already sat him for two months, so they were guilty of the same thing. Turning an injury that tends to max out at six weeks recovery time into two months is light tanking, while keeping that same player out for another two months is next level.
To be clear, if I were them, I would do the same thing. Particularly with them having the easiest schedule in the NBA down the stretch.
Bringing Ingram back to win a few meaningless games and hurting their lottery odds is textbook hustling backwards. Thus, the Raptors are doing what's best for their franchise. Still, if the NBA wants to curb tanking, then they are doing a lousy job of it. Ingram remaining out of the lineup is obvious proof.