Is Brandon Ingram the Problem? Raptors Analysis

IMPORTANT: this trade is not finalized. The Clippers and Raptors agreed to it on June 30, 2026 (ESPN). It was put on hold on July 9, 2026 pending the NBA's investigation into alleged salary-cap circumvention (ESPN). As of August 10, 2026 the investigation is unresolved and the trade has not been completed. No finding has been published and the Clippers deny wrongdoing. This video takes no position on the outcome. Toronto agreed to send Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, unprotected 2031 and 2033 first-round picks, a 2027 first-round pick swap and two second-round picks for one guaranteed year of Kawhi Leonard at $50.3 million (ESPN). So this episode asks a narrow question: what exactly broke against Cleveland, and is a 35-year-old wing the repair? The headline number is real. Brandon Ingram shot 32.8 percent from the field in the first round. But two things about it are usually said wrong. He played five of Toronto's seven games, not seven, after right heel inflammation ended his Game 5 and ruled him out of Games 6 and 7. And his three-point shot did not collapse: 38.2 percent in the regular season, 38.5 percent in the playoffs. What collapsed was everything inside the arc. Two-point shooting went from 51.2 percent to 31.1 percent. The shot chart says why. At the rim he went from 72.5 percent to 11.1 percent, one make on nine attempts. The 3-to-10-foot floater went from 13.6 percent of his attempts to 1.7 percent, one attempt in five games. And the 10-to-16-foot long two went from 26.6 percent of his attempts to 41.4 percent, where he made 37.5 percent. Cleveland did not make him miss threes. Cleveland took the rim, deleted the floater, and handed him the long two. Now the other shot chart. Kawhi Leonard, age 34 last season: 65 games, 27.9 points on .505/.387/.892, a .629 true shooting percentage on a 33.5 percent usage rate, All-NBA Second Team, seventh in MVP voting. 20.5 percent of his attempts came from 3 to 10 feet, where he shot 56.6 percent. 20.4 percent came from 10 to 16 feet, where he shot 52.5 percent. The two bands Cleveland erased are the two bands Toronto agreed to buy. The counter-case gets its own chapter. Five games and 58 shots is a tiny sample. He was injured. Cleveland's defensive rating was 115.1, not an all-time defence. Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett and Jakob Poeltl all shot fine. And Toronto won Game 6 without Ingram in the building. Then the price. Unprotected 2031 and 2033 firsts, a 2027 swap and two seconds, for one guaranteed season. And the availability record: across seven Clippers seasons Leonard played 331 of a possible 554 regular-season games, 59.7 percent (two of those seasons were shortened, so the denominator is summed from each season's own team record rather than assumed at 82), and since the 2019 title run he has played 35 playoff games in seven postseasons. The last four: 2, 2, 7 and 0. Labels. Every shooting, shot-location and games-played figure is a fact read cell by cell from Basketball-Reference and attributed on screen. Trade terms and status come from ESPN and are attributed on screen. All half-court geometry and every forward-looking statement is ChalkTactics analysis, labelled as analysis on screen, and no 2026-27 game has been played. Chapters: 0:00 32.8 percent, and a 35-year-old answer 1:10 46-36, Cleveland, and the five games he played 2:13 The autopsy: where the shots actually went 3:22 The case against our own thesis 4:35 What Kawhi Leonard actually shoots 5:50 The geometry: one coverage, two shot diets 6:54 The pick ledger and the availability record 8:24 The verdict, and a trade that is not finalized Zero game footage. No broadcasts, no clips, no highlights, no interviews. Every image is originally generated and text-free; every number, name and diagram is rendered natively. The full fact ledger, the reproducible stat pull and the source list ship with this episode. #Raptors #Clippers #KawhiLeonard #BrandonIngram #NBA #NBAOffseason #NBATrade #BasketballAnalysis #ChalkTactics