Brandon Ingram has broken out this season for the New Orleans Pelicans. While the team has struggled in the wake of the Anthony Davis trade and Zion Williamson’s subsequent knee injury, Ingram has looked like the foundational piece everyone expected when the Los Angeles Lakers selected him No. 2 overall in the 2016 NBA Draft, averaging a scintillating 25.3 points per game and connecting on 40.9 percent of his triples.
All of this comes after a tough couple of months for Ingram. His trade to the Pelicans occurred after his 2018-19 campaign was cut short by a blood clot issue, and as a result, New Orleans wanted to wait and see what they had in Ingram as opposed to signing him to a gigantic contract extension. While that ended up being something that will benefit both sides, that didn’t mean Ingram was cool watching on the sideline as other members of his draft class got big paydays.
In a recent piece by Andrew Lopez of ESPN, Ingram expressed the frustration he felt watching guys who he believes are inferior players ink deals while the Pelicans opted to wait until he hits restricted free agency this summer.
“When we talked about the extension, of course, I’m human,” Ingram said. “When I look at other guys, I’m like, ‘This motherf*cker got an extension? Oh my god. Man, we can lace up right now and play one-on-one to 15 and this motherf*cker won’t score.’ That’s how I looked at it as a competitor.”
Ingram’s torrid form is, however, slated to reward his patience. According to Lopez, New Orleans intends to re-sign Ingram this summer — something they can do fairly easily thanks to his status as a restricted free agent — and the team views him “as a fundamental building block.” There’s plenty of other questions that the Pelicans will need to answer this summer, but the future of one of the members of their exciting young core doesn’t appear like it will be one of them.
