Pelicans ‘Hopeful’ Brandon Ingram Will Return In Regular Season

New Orleans Pelicans head coach Willie Green told NBA reporters that the team is “hopeful” Brandon Ingram will return before the regular season ends. 

Ingram is out with a bone contusion in his left knee.

Willie Green said Pelicans are “hopeful” to get Brandon Ingram back before the regular season is over. Ingram was jogging on treadmill at shootaround today.

— Christian Clark (@cclark_13) April 1, 2024

One of the best scorers in the NBA, Ingram is averaging 20.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.6 blocks this season for the Pelicans while shooting 49.0% from the field, 35.6% from beyond the arc and 80.1% from the free-throw line. 

The Pelicans are 45-30 on the season. They are in sixth place in the Western Conference standings.

If the regular season ended today, New Orleans would face the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the 2024 playoffs. 

If Ingram doesn’t return this season, he will still be eligible to earn All-NBA status despite not reaching the 65-game threshold. The NBA’s new 65-game rule allows players to be eligible if they play in at least 63 games while being available for 85 percent of the team’s games at the time of an injury.

Ingram was eligible to sign a contract extension last summer but chose to wait in case he earned an All-NBA spot because he would get supermax qualification.

The Pelicans signed Ingram to a five-year, $158 million extension in November 2020. 

Ingram was the second overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft out of Duke. He spent the first three years of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers before getting traded to the Pelicans in the summer of 2019 in the blockbuster Anthony Davis trade. 

Ingram has career averages of 19.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.6 blocks with the Lakers and Pelicans. He made the 2020 All-Star team and won the 2019-20 Most Improved Player of the Year Award. 

The Pelicans haven’t won a playoff series since 2018 when Davis and Jrue Holiday were still on the team. It will be fascinating to see how New Orleans performs in the 2024 playoffs with Ingram, Zion Williamson and CJ McCollum leading the way.