Raptors Vs Pelicans reunites Brandon Ingram with New Orleans, and a healthier Toronto

Brandon Ingram has not played a game in the Smoothie King Center since Dec. 7, 2024, when he limped from the court to the locker room after an ankle sprain against the Oklahoma City Thunder. On Wednesday night, he is set to be back on that floor for the first time in 459 days. The return comes as the Toronto Raptors arrive to face the New Orleans Pelicans, with Toronto also getting key injury news just before the matchup.

Brandon Ingram and a 459-day gap in the Smoothie King Center

The last memory tied to Ingram in that building is specific: an ankle sprain, a limp off the court, and the end of his time playing there in a New Orleans Pelicans uniform. Two months after that Dec. 7, 2024 game, he was traded to the Raptors in exchange for Kelly Olynyk, Bruce Brown and a pair of draft picks. He never put on a Pelicans uniform again.

Now the return is framed less by the transaction than by what came before it. Ingram spent 5 and a half seasons in New Orleans, enough time to leave his name embedded in the franchise record book. When he was traded in February 2025, he was one of just five players in franchise history to rank in the top 10 in points, rebounds and assists, alongside Chris Paul, Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday and David West. Zion Williamson has since moved into 10th place on the rebounding list, bumping Ingram out of the top 10 in that category, a small statistical shuffle that still signals how long Ingram’s footprint lasted.

Ingram’s tenure also included the 2019-20 season when he was selected to the All-Star Game and was named the league’s Most Improved Player. That arc reached another peak in the 2021-22 season, when the Pelicans pushed the top-seeded Phoenix Suns to six games in the first round of the playoffs. Ingram averaged 27 points, 6. 2 rebounds and 6. 2 assists in that series, numbers that helped define a moment when fans could measure direction in more than hopes.

James Borrego’s message as Raptors Vs Pelicans centers on a homecoming

Even from the New Orleans bench, the return has been described in personal terms rather than tactical ones. Pelicans interim coach James Borrego pointed to Ingram’s ties in the city, saying, “He shares a lot of relationships here, so it should be a fun game. ” Borrego also made clear what he wants the building to communicate: “I hope more than anything the city welcomes him back and embraces him. He gave a lot to this city. Blood, sweat and tears. He was a competitor. ”

There is a specific vision for how that recognition might look. Ingram is set to play on the Smoothie King Center floor again Wednesday night when the Raptors come to town, and the idea of a video tribute during a timeout has been raised as a way to show appreciation. The suggestion carries an implicit acknowledgement of the way Ingram’s final appearance in the arena ended, and how quickly an injury and a trade can reorder a player’s place in a city.

Ingram’s current season also complicates the nostalgia. He made his second All-Star Game this season, and he is described as a big reason the Raptors are fifth in the Eastern Conference standings after not making the playoffs last season. The visit, then, is not simply a look back. It is a measure of what changed, and what kept moving.

Jakob Poeltl, Trayce Jackson-Davis, and the Raptors’ injury shift before New Orleans

For Toronto, the trip arrives with immediate roster consequences. After being labeled as questionable ahead of the game, the Raptors will have Jakob Poeltl and Trayce Jackson-Davis available against the Pelicans. The update comes after a recent game against the Rockets, when the Raptors missed their centers and felt the absence in a way that showed up in the margins.

Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic tied that struggle to rebounding. “Rebounding was definitely a big part of the game. We did not do good good enough job in the first half, ” he said postgame, pointing to “seven offensive rebounds in the second quarter” and “three in the first quarter. ” He also described other elements of the same night: the Raptors turned the opponent over 18 times, he said, but did not convert well enough in transition. He added that the team generated “a bunch of wide open shots” that did not go in.

The details around size made the gap even clearer. Without their centers against the Rockets, the Raptors did not have a player taller than Jonathan Mogbo, who stands 6-9. Getting Poeltl and Jackson-Davis back changes the shape of the lineup heading into New Orleans, even if the challenge remains substantial.

The Pelicans enter the matchup fresh off a 20-point win from the weekend, with two full days of rest. That schedule could matter against a Raptors team coming off what was described as a tough game against the Rockets. Still, the Raptors’ health shift offers a concrete adjustment to the terms of the night: more bodies available, and more options to address the kind of rebounding problems Rajakovic outlined.

For Ingram, Wednesday is not just another stop on a schedule. It is a return to the floor he last left injured on Dec. 7, 2024, now wearing Toronto’s colors, with Poeltl and Jackson-Davis available behind him. Raptors vs pelicans will be played with standings, rest, and matchups in mind. Yet the evening’s first fact is simpler: Ingram is back in the Smoothie King Center after 459 days, and the building will have a chance to decide what that return sounds like.