Brandon Ingram (left) has had a familiar face around him this season, in guard/forward Garrett Temple, who was his teammate and mentor in his first year with the New Orleans Pelicans.Cole Burston/Getty Images
Through the first four games of the Toronto Raptors’ first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, you’ve often seen Garrett Temple, 39, on the sidelines.
Sometimes, he’s hyping his teammates up, sometimes he’s standing alongside the Raptors coaching staff calling plays, and occasionally, Temple will get some minutes – he’s played a total of two in this series.
Toronto doesn’t rely on the veteran playing in his 16th season for his prowess as a guard-forward hybrid. Gradey Dick, Toronto’s 2023 first-round pick, said Temple’s “basically like a player-coach.”
“He’s always talking to the coaches and learning what they want,” Dick said. “Obviously, the coaches are gonna coach us, but it’s kind of different when it comes from a player and a guy that’s in our position.”
The term “player-coach” is something Temple’s heard before.
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“That’s kind of what my wife told my son when my son asked, ‘Why is daddy always on the bench?’” Temple said. “It feels good that they respect my knowledge of the game, but I’m always in the locker room with them, I’m always talking with them, and they understand that I’m still one of the guys.”
Dick, 22, joined Toronto in the 2023-24 season as a rookie – the same season Temple joined the Raptors.
“He taught me the ropes to the NBA as much as he could,” Dick said. “Coming in as a young guy, any questions I have, I lean towards him, always.”
Temple is with Dick, Collin Murray-Boyles and other young Raptors during their first playoff series. Similarly, he was with Brandon Ingram during his first postseason in 2022.
Garrett Temple (right) has served as a bridge between the coaching staff and his teammates over the last few seasons in Toronto.Jaiden Tripi/Getty Images
The pair were teammates on the New Orleans Pelicans.
Ingram, then 24, averaged 27 points and 6.2 assists and rebounds – postseason bests he’s yet to match or eclipse. Now 28, Ingram is the Raptors’ third-oldest player behind Temple and Jakob Poeltl, 30.
But in terms of support – no matter his status as a youngster or a veteran – Ingram echoed a similar sentiment to Dick.
“[Temple’s] been there for me for a very long time. He always speaks highly of me. He’s always a voice to help me to [see] things that I don’t see,” Ingram said before the 2026 postseason began. “[He] always comes to me, whispers it to me. Let me know the things I could be doing to lead some of the younger guys on the team.
“He’s always there for support.”
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Through the first three games of the 2026 postseason, Ingram averaged 12 points with a sub-40 shooting percentage.
In Game 4, Ingram turned things around.
After a rough first quarter where Ingram shot 1-for-7 from the field, he shot perfectly from three and notched 10 points in the second quarter.
Ingram easily eclipsed his previous series-high mark of 17 by the game’s end. His 23 points on Sunday tied for the game-high and helped his team even up the series with the Cavaliers at two games apiece.
Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes (4) had 23 points in Sunday's series-evening win over the Cavaliers. His leadership of the team is at a level that veteran Garrett Temple says he's never seen before.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
“The biggest thing is understanding [to be able] to affect the game in multiple ways,” Temple said about what growth he’s seen from Ingram between 2022 to 2026. “His ability to rebound is really big for us, and that helps him be able to get out in transition in space.”
Temple also commended Ingram’s defence as a way to find a rhythm when shots aren’t falling.
But on Sunday, though the percentages aren’t pretty, he produced offensively.
“It felt good to be effective in this win,” Ingram said.
Scottie Barnes was the other player to drop 23 points. Coming back to Toronto down 0-2, Temple remembered the 24-year-old’s attitude.
“Right after the game in Cleveland, he came to the locker room very positive, speaking very positively, ‘We good, fellas, we know what we need to do.’” Temple recalled. “The positivity, the understanding, and it wasn’t fake. He actually, in his mind, envisioned what we needed to do to win the game. And you can feel that.”
After a 33-point Game 3, Barnes knocked down six free throws to help Toronto pull ahead and stay ahead in the final minute of Game 4, leading the Raptors to a gritty 93-89 victory.
Like Ingram, Temple’s seen growth in Barnes.
Growth that will become invaluable as the series shifts to Cleveland for Game 5 on Wednesday.
“The way he’s grown as a leader, a vocal leader, a leader that leads by example,” Temple said of Barnes. “He has been elite the whole season and in the playoffs, he’s taken even bigger steps. Defensively, the way he’s playing, the way he’s talking on the bench.
“He’s at a level right now – as a leader of the team – that I haven’t seen him at ever.”