Toronto Raptors forward Brandon Ingram has waited two years to get back to the NBA playoffs. His wait ends on Saturday in Cleveland against the Cavaliers.Mark Blinch/Getty Images
After the Toronto Raptors‘ practice on Thursday, Sandro Mamukelashvili recalled a post he made on X, formerly Twitter, earlier in the week.
The Toronto big man told “Twitter Gm’s” to get ready for the playoffs.
“We have a whole bunch of GMs on Twitter, and it’s fun seeing their opinions,” said Mamukelashvili. “One day they’re ready to cut you, the next day they’re ready to love you.”
Mamukelashvili said that the Toronto Raptors’ return to the postseason will add more general managers to that infamous list.
Raptors shrug off underdog status in return to NBA postseason
“You go home and you sit on your couch if you have a bad game and you try to find ways to bounce back,” said Mamukelashvili, who later said he’d play any of his online critics in a game of one-on-one.
“Sometimes I even go and read that stuff so I can be like, ‘Okay next game I’ll show y’all who you’re gonna ship away.’”
Brandon Ingram takes a different approach to social media than his Raptors counterpart.
“That don’t really matter to me,” Ingram said regarding potential doubtful online comments about his or the Raptors’ abilities. “There’s a lot of idiots on social media.”
Ingram, 28, will play in his third playoff series on Saturday when he suits up against the Cleveland Cavaliers (52-30). His two previous trips to the postseason dance came during his tenure with the New Orleans Pelicans.
Ingram earned the second all-star selection of his career this year with the Raptors, helping them back into the playoffs for the first time since the 2022 season.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
The Duke alum has averaged 21.9 points, five assists and 5.5 rebounds through 10 career playoff games.
Ingram, whose 21.5 points per game lead the Raptors, will try to pierce through Cleveland’s defence and shrug off its physicality – regardless of how many people are covering him.
“When an opposing team sends two [to cover me], in the mid-range it probably won’t matter,” said Ingram on whether he prefers to be covered by one or two defenders. “Outside on the perimeter, if they send two on me, I’m able to see over the top and pick defences apart, so I think at that point it’s a matter of whether we’re making shots or not.”
Rookie Collin Murray-Boyles, 20, will get his first taste of playoff action. Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic will lean on Murray-Boyles, Scottie Barnes and the team’s other big men to go toe-to-toe with Evan Mobley and Co.
“When we have CMB and Scottie together on the floor, we have two very diverse defensive players that can guard the bigs, that can rebound, that can be in switching situations,” said Rajakovic. “We feel comfortable putting those guys to guard their best players, and we’ve had a lot of success with those two guys on the court.
“To see the confidence and growth of CMB gives us a lot of confidence heading into this playoff series.”
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Murray-Boyles came into his own this month. The rookie centre averaged nearly 13 points per game in April and notched a season-high 20 points on April 1.
“I expected us to be here, especially to have an opportunity to bring the organization back to a championship level,” said Murray-Boyles. “It’s been really encouraging to see the progress that this team has made throughout the course of the year.”
Ingram will be a key piece in lifting the Raptors to that level Murray-Boyles alluded to.
Like his first year with the Pelicans, Ingram’s debut campaign in Toronto came with an NBA all-star appearance – his 2026 selection is the second of his career.
After a series of nagging injuries over the last few seasons, Ingram has had the healthiest campaign of his career since his rookie season with the Lakers in 2016-17.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
But there was a time when questions around his health lingered. The Kinston, N.C., product’s last playoff outing in 2024 saw him average a mere 14.3 points, 3.3 assists and 4.5 rebounds – well below his 2022 playoff averages of 27 points and 6.2 assists and 6.2 rebounds.
Ingram battled through a knee injury during that 2024 series. His Pelicans fell in four to the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.
Last year, a sprained ankle prevented the forward from making his Raptors debut after Toronto acquired him in February, 2025. He only appeared in 18 games during the 2024-25 season, all with New Orleans.
Ingram’s 77 contests this season are the most since his rookie year with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Ahead of Saturday, Ingram will look to play up to the 27-point-per-game standard he set for himself in 2022.
“I’m ready to be effective in any way that I can be, whether that’s offensively or defensively,” he said. “But at some point in the game, you got to give [the ball] to your best players and let them go make a play.
“I’ll be ready.”