Among the fans in attendance during Brandon Ingram’s Wednesday night return against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center was GloRilla. The Memphis rap superstar and Grammy Award-winning artist is Ingram’s girlfriend, and she dazzled in her courtside seat with silver hair, an array of jewelry and a tracksuit directly across from the Toronto Raptors’ bench.
Ingram, who spent nearly six full seasons with the Pelicans from 2019-25, received a loud ovation from New Orleans’ fans during the starting lineup introductions. There was also an Ingram tribute video played in the first half of the game, which ended in a 122-111 loss to the Pelicans.
“It’s good,” GloRilla told Nola.com of Ingram’s warm reception. “I love to see him getting all the love because I feel like I give him too much of it, so he needs to feel that from other people.”
The two-time NBA All-Star, who finished with 22 points on 8-of-19 shooting in the loss, agreed with his celebrity partner’s comments.
“I needed a little bit more love today anyway because I’ve been playing terribly,” Ingram said after the game. “I’ve been playing terribly. Everywhere I went, I just heard fans calling me and I just stopped and signed jerseys. [I] remembered some old faces, old fans and people who had season tickets.”
GloRilla said that Ingram sometimes brings up his memories of New Orleans to her.
“He told me a lot of stories [about New Orleans],” GloRilla said. “I can’t think of any off the top of my head right now, but he was happy to come back.”
Ingram, who’s from Kinston, North Carolina, laughed when he admitted why he felt such a connection to New Orleans.
“It reminded me of home,” he said. “Just, you know, if I could say this, how ghetto it was. The slang, everything. It just reminded me of home. When I traveled around town, it reminded me of Kinston.”
GloRilla was one of the headliners of the 2025 ESSENCE Festival of Culture. Ingram made his second All-Star team this season and has averaged 21.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game in his first full year with the Raptors.