Brandon Ingram is heading to his second NBA All-Star Game - but not without a few raised eyebrows around the league.
The Raptors forward wasn’t among the original 24 players selected for this year’s All-Star rosters, and to be fair, there wasn’t a massive outcry when his name was left off. Still, after a series of injury-related withdrawals, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver tapped Ingram as a replacement. And while he might not have been the most obvious choice, a unique mix of circumstances helped push him across the line.
Let’s break it down.
A Long Road Back to the All-Star Stage
Ingram’s first All-Star appearance came back in the 2019-20 season as a rising star with the Pelicans. That was Year 4 for him, and it looked like the start of a perennial All-Star trajectory.
Instead, injuries and inconsistency derailed that path. Fast forward six seasons, and he’s finally back.
This season, Ingram is averaging 22 points per game, shooting 36.4% from deep, and adding 5.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists. Solid numbers.
Not eye-popping, but steady. He’s also been available - playing in most of Toronto’s games - and that matters.
Availability has been a luxury in a season where injuries have reshaped the All-Star pool.
The Raptors are 32-22 and sitting fifth in the East, and while Ingram hasn’t been their best player - that title belongs to Scottie Barnes, who earned his own All-Star nod - he’s been a consistent contributor for a winning team. That helped generate some buzz in recent weeks, even if he wasn’t initially selected.
The Format Shift That Changed the Equation
This year’s All-Star Game isn’t following the traditional East vs. West format.
Instead, the league is rolling out a new structure: three teams of eight players each. One team will be composed entirely of international players, while the other two will be made up of American-born stars.
That twist had a real impact on who could be picked as injury replacements.
When Stephen Curry pulled out, the league needed to replace him with another American player. That immediately ruled out a number of talented international candidates - Joel Embiid, Franz Wagner, Lauri Markkanen, Dillon Brooks, and Rudy Gobert, among others.
So the pool narrowed. And when you look at the remaining American options, Ingram started to make more sense.
Who Ingram Beat Out - and Why
Among the American players who were likely in the mix: James Harden, Evan Mobley, and Michael Porter Jr.
Mobley and Porter Jr. are both dealing with injuries, which made them non-starters as replacements. The league isn’t going to sub in a player who might not be able to suit up. That left Harden as the most intriguing omission.
Harden’s numbers have been strong, and like Ingram, he’s played the majority of the season. But his production came mostly with the Clippers before his recent trade to Cleveland, and Toronto’s better team record may have tipped the scales in Ingram’s favor. In a season where the margins were thin, team success and health were likely key tiebreakers.
A Deserved Spot? That Depends on the Lens
Is Ingram having a better season than Harden or some of the other names left out? Not necessarily.
Is he one of the 24 best players in the league this season? Probably not.
But that’s not always what the All-Star Game comes down to. It’s a mix of performance, availability, team success, positional balance, and, this year, even nationality.
Ingram checked enough of those boxes to earn the nod. And for the Raptors, it marks the first time in years they’ve had two All-Stars in the same season - a notable achievement for a team that’s been quietly climbing the standings.
For Ingram, it’s a testament to persistence. Six years after his first All-Star appearance, he’s back. And while the road wasn’t smooth, and the selection wasn’t without debate, he’ll be on the floor when the league’s brightest stars take the stage.