Pelicans Prepared To Enter Season With Roster As Currently Constructed

While the Brandon Ingram trade rumors won’t die anytime soon, it doesn’t seem as if the New Orleans Pelicans are planning to move him. At least, not now.

Per Will Guillory of The Athletic, the trade market for Ingram has “dried up,” with less than a month to go now before the start of training camp.

“Given the circumstances, the Pelicans are prepared to enter the season with this exact roster and see how (Zion Williamson), Ingram, (Dejounte Murray), (CJ McCollum), (Trey Murphy) and Herb Jones can all fit together,” Guillory wrote. “New Orleans undoubtedly has one of the most talented group of perimeter players in the NBA.”

Ingram was a no-show at the Pelicans’ voluntary camp in Los Angeles. The only other player who couldn’t make it was new center Daniel Theis. The Pelicans knew ahead of time that Theis wouldn’t be there. Ingram’s absence was a surprise.

But as much as he would like a contract extension, or perhaps a trade, neither is seemingly on the way. So the Pelicans will march ahead as best they can with the current group. As Guillory noted, what happens next with Ingram is largely up to Ingram — and more specifically, his play on the court.

Ingram averaged 20.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.7 assists last season, shooting 49.2% from the field, 35.5% on 3-pointers and 80.1% from the free-throw line.

The Oklahoma City Thunder swept the Pelicans in the first round of the 2024 playoffs. Ingram averaged 14.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.3 blocks while shooting 34.5% overall and 25.0% from 3 in the series. 

A Duke product, Ingram has career averages of 19.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.6 blocks with the Los Angeles Lakers and Pelicans. He won the 2019-20 Most Improved Player of the Year Award. 

Ingram is set to make $36 million next season.

According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line, Ingram’s camp sought teams to pay the wing $210 million. 

“Ingram, with one All-Star appearance on his resume like Lauri Markkanen, has only one season left on his current contract and is said to be seeking a four-year contract extension worth nearly $210 million,” Stein wrote. “The Pelicans have made it clear that they won’t go to those lengths to re-sign him and, while various teams have explored Ingram trades since the offseason began in earnest, no other team willing to sign the 26-year-old at those numbers has yet emerged … with league sources saying that Ingram’s camp has also joined the efforts to find one.”

(Ashish Mathur contributed to this report.)