Three reasons why the New Orleans Pelicans should be all-in on bringing back Brandon Ingram during the offseason
Looking back, the 2019-20 NBA season is going to be considered one of the most memorable seasons in all history. Unfortunately, it won’t be because of anything that took place on the actual basketball floor.
Nevertheless, specifically for the New Orleans Pelicans, this season was supposed to be their first step in the road back to relevancy. Even after trading Anthony Davis during the offseason, the Pelicans were set up for immediate success.
They drafted Zion Williamson, added Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram (via the AD trade), traded for Derrick Favors, and signed JJ Redick in free agency. Adding all of those pieces to Jrue Holiday, one of the league’s most underrated guards, and there was a chance that the Pelicans were emerging from the offseason with its best team in years, even after losing Anthony Davis.
However, expectations quickly tampered as soon as it was announced that Zion Williamson would miss a good portion of the season after undergoing knee surgery a week before the start of the season.
He eventually made his season debut in January, but by the time he returned the Pelicans were too far down the West standings to really make a real push for the playoffs – then, the NBA hit a suspension.
All wasn’t lost for the Pelicans in the time that it took for Zion to return, though. One huge bright spot, despite their disappointing performance in the standings, was the play of Brandon Ingram. Despite being somewhat of a disappointment through his first three seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, Ingram was in the midst of a career-year – averaging 24 points, six rebounds, and four assists on 47 percent shooting from the field and 39 percent from 3-point range – before the season was suspended.
As he prepares to enter restricted free agency during the offseason (whenever that occurs), we explore three reasons why the Pelicans should do whatever they can to keep Brandon Ingram on their roster moving forward.