Raptors star Brandon Ingram reveals big takeaway after loss to Knicks

The Toronto Raptors' star shared what he has learned about the team so far this season.

Toronto Raptors forward Brandon Ingram (3) handles the ball against the New York Knicks during the second half at the 2025-26 NBA Emirates Cup at Scotiabank Arena. | Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images

With a loss to the New York Knicks, the Toronto Raptors have been eliminated from the NBA Cup, but even more notably, they have lost six of their last seven games. After a hot start to the season, the Raptors have come back down to earth and now sit at 15-11 through their first 26 games.

After the loss to the Knicks, Raptors star Brandon Ingram revealed the biggest lesson he has learned from not only their NBA Cup defeat but the first 26 games of their season.

"Well, one big lesson that I take away from the course of the season is that we have a little margin for error," Ingram said. "Especially when we have guys in and out of the lineup. We've had Jakob [Poeltl] out of the lineup. We've had RJ [Barrett] out of the lineup. We had [Immanuel] Quickley out of the lineup today. As guys come in and step up, we have just a little margin for error, especially when we play really good teams."

Toronto Raptors forward Brandon Ingram (3) during a break in the action against the Boston Celtics during the second half at Scotiabank Arena. | John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

Raptors have little margin for error

Ingram has a great point about the Raptors having a little margin for error, and it has been drastically shown this season. Only six of Toronto's 15 wins this season have come against teams with a winning record, although their recent NBA Cup loss to the Knicks was simply an unfortunate situation they were put in.

The Raptors were missing their starting backcourt of Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett, forcing Jamal Shead and Ochai Agbaji to step up in their place. Against a very talented Knicks team, that was always going to be a very challenging game for the Raptors. However, it gave them a chance to test their limits while being shorthanded, but they did not respond as well as they would have hoped.

Brandon Ingram Highlights
31PTS/6REB/6AST/2STL
(Raptors vs Knicks 12/09/25) pic.twitter.com/xQ5ZNsmgMh

— Nora (@B_X_I_14) December 10, 2025

"Everybody gotta step up, including myself," Ingram continued. "We've just got to be a little bit sharper. Be the aggressor on the offensive end and do what we've been doing on the defensive end and do it even better."

In Toronto's loss to the Raptors, Ingram certainly did his part to step up, finishing with 31 points, six rebounds, and six assists on 11-18 shooting from the field. Without Quickely and Barrett, Toronto had one of its lowest-scoring outings of the season with 101 points, as Ingram could have used some more help offensively.

Regardless, the Raptors should be able to regain some confidence moving forward, especially with five days off before their next game.