With the whole world put on hold as the coronavirus continues to spread and people are relegated to their homes, there is little more that any of us can do beside start looking toward the future. The present is pretty bleak, but make no mistake, life will go on at some point, and we might as well start planning for all the things will come barreling toward us down the road.
It’s totally up in the air about when the league will start things back up, but still, that hasn’t stopped teams from exploring their various contingencies for when things inevitably get back to normal. For instance, there will eventually be another offseason, during which teams will have to reckon with pending free agents.
One team is apparently already solidifying at least some of their roster decisions. According to the latest rumors, the New Orleans Pelicans are prepared to match any offer sheet that comes in for restricted free agent Brandon Ingram.
Via Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com:
The one restricted free agent with appeal is Brandon Ingram. Multiple sources expect the New Orleans Pelicans to match any offer sheet. So, that path, one that changed with the Drummond addition, is no longer available.
Prior to the shutdown, Ingram had been playing the best basketball of his career and had been selected to his first All-Star team. If the Pelicans do decide to match any offer, this will give them (whenever the league returns) another full season to see how he fits alongside Zion Williamson as part of their future core before he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
However, there is still plenty of uncertainty about when or if the league will return this season and how that might affect the calendar year for the NBA, so the offseason still might be a long ways off.
