The New Orleans Pelicans are having a tough time discovering a staff that desires Brandon Ingram.
That is the place the issue lies:
Ingram is a good participant. In a league that wants scoring wings, he must be in excessive demand. However nobody needed to pay him.
The second total decide within the 2016 NBA draft will flip 27 in September. He is simply coming into his prime, however he is additionally been within the league for eight seasons. He has performed in additional than 475 video games. His achievements have been few.
This isn’t a slight on Ingram, both.
Throughout his profession, he averaged 19 factors per sport, together with over 5 rebounds and 4 assists. He is not a foul participant. However for no matter purpose, the staff appeared shy.
Possibly it is as a result of Ingram would not precisely impression profitable basketball video games. He has a profession document of 222-225, however most of these losses got here with the Los Angeles Lakers earlier than LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
He has been a part of the staff that revitalized the Pelicans lately. He has extra wins than losses over the previous three seasons in New Orleans. So why are they attempting so desperately to commerce him? You guessed it, they do not need to signal him to the large extension he is in search of.
Availability turns into one other query mark for Ingram.
In eight seasons within the NBA, he began simply three of simply over 60 video games. That is sufficient to discourage any NBA decision-maker from assigning Ingram a hefty max contract.
The Sacramento Kings have been reportedly taken with him, however as a substitute opted to pair DeMar DeRozan, a a lot older wing, with De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis. There have been rumors of curiosity from the Golden State Warriors, however that hasn’t materialized but. Even the Cleveland Cavaliers selected to make use of a core of younger gamers as a substitute of paying Ingram.
The Pelicans now discover themselves in a troublesome spot. They made a giant commerce with the Atlanta Hawks for Dejounte Murray, however now really feel like they’re caught paying two mortgages.
Maybe New Orleans can considerably decrease their asking worth by buying and selling Ingram. In fact, on the proper value, groups will discover worth in including a scoring wing, even when it means paying for an enormous contract.
John Hollinger of The Athletic says a commerce involving Ingram could possibly be the following domino to fall this offseason.
But when that domino by no means falls, the Pelicans entrance workplace goes all out to make it work within the remaining 12 months of a participant’s contract in unrestricted free company.
