The New Orleans Pelicans were swept out of the first round against the Oklahoma City Thunder and still haven’t seen Zion Williamson suit up for a playoff game. Williamson’s injury in the play-in game came as he was having the finest game of his career, and thrust Brandon Ingram into the spotlight.
Coming off an injury of his own, Ingram was flatter than paper Mario against the Thunder, averaging 14.3 points per game on 34.5 percent shooting with Lu Dort completely shutting him down. If the Pelicans want to get over the first-round hump, they’ll need a healthy Zion Williamson but also a roster that fits better together.
With Williamson and Ingram on the court, the Pelicans managed a meager plus-1.97 net rating in 1,085 minutes, per PBPStats. For a playoff team, that’s an unacceptably low net rating for a team’s two best players when sharing the court. The idea that the Pelicans need a “true point guard” has become a topic of conversation, but it’s the ultimate disappointing season copout.
The ‘true point guard’ boogeyman
Clamors for a “true point guard” are the boogeyman of all disorganized and underperforming offenses. With CJ McCollum, Zion Williamson, and Brandon Ingram, the Pelicans had more than enough ball handling and offensive creation to fill their true point guard void. The problem they faced was those three players didn’t fit together. McCollum and Ingram are not ball movers on offense and instead like to create after multiple dribbles. That’s fine if they’re the only guys capable of that, but as their series against the Thunder exposed, that puts a significant cap on your ceiling.
The Pelicans’ path forward is building their offense around Zion Williamson. As the most talented of the trio, he is a freight train of rim pressure and should be their defacto offensive engine. In reality, he is their true point guard, and the Pelicans should opt to get the most out of his talents. Their priority should be to surround him with quick offensive decision-makers willing to swing the ball in rotation off of kick outs, have a lightning-quick trigger on the perimeter, and insulate him defensively.
Due to McCollum’s age (32) and salary ($64 million over two years), his trade value wouldn’t net the Pelicans much. He’s too old and good to be of use for a young team looking for lottery ping-pong balls, but he’s not good enough to help a contender considering his salary. Unfortunately, this leaves Brandon Ingram as the odd man out, and if the Pelicans want to get to the next level, he’s their best ticket to paradise.
Brandon Ingram’s trade value
Brandon Ingram’s trade value is not going to be robust. He’s a good, but not great player entering the final year of his deal. Any team trading for him will also need to be incredibly confident they can extend him. With a $36 million salary next season, the floor for an extension will have to be four years, $160 million. That’s a lot of money for an injury-prone player who has received three total All-NBA votes (one second and two third-team votes) in their eight-year career.
If the Pelicans want to receive impact NBA talent in return for Ingram, they probably won’t be able to recoup any draft assets. Conversely, if they want draft picks, they’ll have to take on bad contracts or low-level rotation pieces in return. This might seem like a light return, but Ingram isn’t so talented that the lack of team control doesn’t matter. He’s hardly a value right now, and he’ll probably be even less so on his next deal. The stress max, a player’s second max contract, as Brian Windhorst likes to call it, is aptly named. Ingram making over $40 million a season, and likely well over that figure by the end, won’t leave the team with much financial wiggle room. Just look at the difficulty the Bulls have had trading Zach LaVine if you’re not convinced.
However, while Ingram’s trade value won’t net a king’s ransom, that doesn’t mean there won’t be offers. He is a talented player after all, but the returns won’t be of the Rudy Gobert or Donovan Mitchell variety. These are five trades of Brandon Ingram that could help the Pelicans get over the hump.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert for Brandon Ingram
The Cavaliers have discovered that playing two non-shooting frontcourt players is no way to have an effective offense in 2024. Their strategy of starting two point guards and two centers has allowed them to be an excellent regular-season team, but in the playoffs, the limitations of the lineup have been continuously exposed. Ingram isn’t a game-changing star, but he’d slot in nicely next to the Cavaliers’ current stars.
While Darius Garland would fill the Pelicans’ perceived “true point guard” void, he’d be an awful defensive fit next to CJ McCollum. However, Jarrett Allen is an All-Star caliber center whom the Pelicans have been rumored to have had interest in. Combined with Jonas Valancunas’ impending free agency, the acquisition of Allen makes all the sense in the world. A defense anchored by Allen and flanked by Herb Jones and Trey Murphy III would be formidable, and he’s an excellent lob finisher and sneakily good passer on the short roll.
To make the salaries work, the Cavaliers would have to include Caris LeVert, but LeVert is no throw-in. He’s been an excellent depth piece for the Cavaliers, and he’d help minimize the departure of Ingram on the wing for the Pelicans. The biggest hurdle for this deal materializing is Donovan Mitchell’s impending free agency. If Mitchell doesn’t extend with Cleveland this offseason, there’s a good chance he hits the trade block, but if does extend or Cleveland is willing to risk it, then adding Ingram into the fold could be exactly what they need to take the next step.
Chicago Bulls: Alex Caruso, Ayo Dosunmu, and Nikola Vucevic for Brandon Ingram
I wouldn’t recommend the Chicago Bulls target Brandon Ingram, but because of their commitment to the bit, they just might. No team has more aggressively pursued mediocrity than the Bulls, and adding Ingram would help that cause immensely. With DeMar DeRozan set to hit free agency, the Bulls may need to find another wing scorer to pair with Coby White and Zach LaVine.
While giving up Alex Caruso and Ayo Dosunmu would hurt, getting off Nikola Vucevic’s contract would be a definite win. The Pelicans adding Caruso and Dosunmu to a backcourt that already has Jose Alvarado would allow them to put every opponent ball handler in a 48-minute torture chamber. Vucevic’s star has faded quickly, but the Pelicans have built effective defenses around Jonas Valancunas, and Vucevic offers a more varied offensive skill set.
This is a trade that neither team should want to make, but if the Pelicans don’t want to commit big money to Ingram then trading him is their best avenue. Caruso and Dosunmu are excellent role players, and Vucevic at the very least will be decent salary filler in a future trade.
Memphis Grizzlies: Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard for Brandon Ingram
The Grizzlies might not want to pull the plug on the Marcus Smart experiment so quickly, but Ingram is a definite upgrade. After enduring the season from hell, the Grizzlies have no idea if their dream lineup of Smart, Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, and Jaren Jackson Jr. actually works, but chances are replacing Smart with Ingram makes them better. Kennard is an oft-used shooter with a $14 million team option that is best used as a salary in a trade.
The Pelicans would be turning Ingram into depth, but Smart might be the right type of point guard to play next to McCollum and Williamson. He’s a stout versatile defender and he and McCollum cover each other's deficiencies. Shooting is always in style and Kennard at least provides that when he’s healthy, but as an expiring contract he could always be moved again.
In the end, the Grizzlies might have to part with a draft asset to entice the Pelicans, but at that point, it might just be worth it to see if GG Jackson’s strong second half was the real deal. Ingram would absolutely make the Grizzlies better, but he runs counter to their franchise ethos of tough, physical players, and they may balk at having another $40 million man on the roster.
Sacramento Kings: Harrison Barnes, Kevin Huerter, and one first-round pick for Brandon Ingram
The Kings got a taste of the playoffs and found out just how hard it is to get back there in the brutal Western Conference. Their core of Domatas Sabonis, De’Aaron Fox, and Keegan Murray are likely untouchable in this deal, but Harrison Barnes and Kevin Huerter are solid veteran contributors, and betting on the Kings’ demise has been a winning bet for the past 20 years.
A starting lineup featuring Sabonis, Fox, Murray, and Ingram would pack tons of firepower and shot creation. Oddly, it wasn’t the Kings’ defense that failed them this season, it was their offense dropping from first to 14th. Ingram would provide them with another late shot clock outlet and give defenses another dangerous scorer to have to account for.
For the Pelicans, this deal is about adding draft capital and two contracts that could be instrumental in a massive trade. Barnes and Huerter should come in and be effective cogs for the Pelicans, but their real value is they’re both on two-year deals making $18 and $16.8 million. Repackaging those two with a bunch of picks could land the Pelicans the star they need, but isn’t quite available.
The biggest mistake franchises make is not waiting for the right moment. If they can’t land the perfect player to replace Ingram, then they should target the perfect contracts and assets to find that replacement when the moment presents itself.
Detroit Pistons: Evan Fournier, 2029 first-round pick top-4 protected, 2028 & 2030 first-round swaps for Brandon Ingram
This would be the most on-brand trade imaginable. The Pistons are a dysfunctional mess and trading a bunch of assets to land Brandon Ingram and then extend him to a massive deal would be too on the nose. On the flip side, the Pelicans are the cheapest franchise in the NBA, and trading a core member of their team for future assets and salary savings sounds like exactly the type of thing they’d do after making the playoffs.
While I wouldn’t recommend the Pistons making a bid for Ingram and exposing their future drafts to another franchise, if the directive is to improve and improve quickly, then targeting him makes all the sense in the world. The Pelicans betting against the Pistons front office is the type of bet you should make, and those Pistons' assets would have serious value around the league. Evan Fournier has spent the past few seasons as a salary filler, and he’d do exactly that for the Pelicans should they look to make a move to offset the loss of Ingram.
The other advantage here for the Pelicans is the immediate savings they would gain. Fournier makes $17 million less than Ingram and with Jonas Valancunas’ $23.1 million contract coming off the books, they’d have a ton of salary cap space to work with. While this is a weaker free agent class, they could easily round out their roster, or target a big-money player in trade without giving up half of their roster. If you aren’t going to add talent, the next best thing is flexibility.