OverDrive - Cheng on the Raptors extending Ingram, the direction of the team and Doncic's debut with the Lakers

Episode Date: February 11, 2025

TSN Betting Analyst Wesley Cheng joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the NBA, the Raptors signing Brandon Ingram to an extension, the direction of the team for the season, Luka Doncic's role with the Lakers and more.

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Switch to Bell PureFiber, Canada's fastest internet, awarded by UCCLA. Starting from $60 a month. Visit bell.ca for more details and to check availability. Wesley Chang, come on in, man. How are you doing? Oh, dog. Let's go. I'm happy to be here, man. Thanks for having me.

Yeah. So give us the breakdown on this Ingram signing. I always found it weird in pro sports how you just hand a bag to a guy that's never been around, but they must really like them and it must kind of signal a different direction. Yeah, I think ultimately even before the trade went down, it's kind of like understood there must have been some handshake agreement that if they were going to do this, Ingram was going to be signing off for some term. So now we know the numbers.

He's here for three more years and I think ultimately this was the plan from the get-go. You know one of those things I think is worth mentioning about how all this works, because you have a bunch of people who are concerned about tank or no tank. The core of this team, the way they've set it up is now Scotty Bucks. They picked him, that's the leader. Whether you like it or not, he's the leader of this team. So they need to bring in guys who are going to support him and set him up for success. As opposed to tanking for two, three more years and then by that point you don't know what type of situation you have with Scotty Barnes by that point in his career. You have an opportunity to turn,

you know, Bruce Brown, some have an opportunity to turn Bruce Brown and some other pieces here to turn him into somebody who can immediately impact winning. So this just means the Raptors next year, that's when the playoff window begins. They're going right for it. When it comes to them picking this guy up and making the trade and signing him obviously right away, I'm not not gonna use the term desperate. I don't think the Raptors are desperate. They do have a plan in mind, but is there a little kinda,

hey, we better make sure we make this business quick and lock him up before anyone has any kind of thoughts of not wanting to be here? I get the sense that even before everything was kinda pen to paper, it was already decided that he was going to be part of the long term plans. From what I know, again, these are just like sources, people that I know within our company. I think it's been understood that Masai had his eye on Ingram for more than just this

season. It's been for a while. So this is a player that I think Masai has coveted. I think he believes in this player and whether or not it's a perfect hit for Scotty Barnes and the Raptors infrastructure currently that still remains to be seen but it's not like he signed on to some you know super max your five four year term deal. It's a three year deal and And if it doesn't work out, they kind of have a bit of a get out jail free card. But, um, you know, if you think about what his contract was coming into this year and what they signed him for now, it's not too far above what the previous contract

was. So, um, to be honest, it's pretty reasonable. And, uh, I think the main thing that I always have been flagging this week, this all started with trading away Siakam. And as a byproduct of that, if Bruce Brown didn't end up getting shipped out anywhere and he was stuck on the team, you essentially traded Siakam away from nothing. So at least you're picking a guy now who can partner besides Scotty Barnes here as a result of that Pasco Siacom trade. It's a gamble that Masai is making here, but this is probably better off than them having absolutely nothing to show for if Bruce Brown didn't end up getting anything at the deadline.

So Wes, how do they navigate the tank from here on in? Because you still want to show the fans, oh yeah, we're serious, like we're not going to be that bad for that long and we're also, we want to be garbage to have a shot at the pick. I mean, they're playing the Sixers tonight and they're nine and a half point dogs. Like where does the tank go from here? Oh, I mean, Bobby Webster was pretty clear in his press conference after the trade deadline. He said our number one focus from this point is the NBA draft. He explicitly said it.

So I think you're going to see them try to slot in players here and there to get them some reps together, build some chemistry, but he made, he literally was as explicit as you can be. They want a top five level guy from this draft and then they instantly start trying to compete come next October. So Wesley, you and I are conspiracy theorists. Walk me through. I believe in all of that stuff. Although I'll research it and then somebody has to talk me off the ledge. Talk me off the ledge here, this Donchuk just to LA to me

I mean there were better or not better, but there were been more out there Something was fishy about this was it not or what do you make of it? Oh? That I'm just asking questions like any good journalist would and all I'm saying It's a little bit strange that every single stakeholder that has seemingly been involved in the NBA had the exact same shock reaction. Even the guy who broke the news thought it was some sort of hack fake message that he got. So it just says everything you need to know.

Every single person involved had the same reaction It's a bit telling but again, you know, that's why they're paid the big bucks to make these big decisions and we're here just talking It's crazy. It's like you get to a point where you're you look at it and you're like, okay The guy was out of shape and they just didn't want to dump that money into him but then he goes to LA and you see the hype and LeBron wearing the 77 jersey and you just think like maybe Dallas are a bunch of morons for doing this. Like maybe that was just a massive screw up, man. I that's probably how it's going to play out right now. I mean, it's a pretty scary fallout right now for Dallas and how things have fallen

apart really quickly. So it could be literally an all-time blunder in like the history of the NBA and that'll be a terrible legacy for Nikko Harrison and the front office there. Well Wes, thanks a lot for doing this buddy. We appreciate you coming on on short notice so thank you very much for that. Hey man, happy to be here man, appreciate it guys. There's Wesley Chang, the TSN betting analyst.