It’s no secret: the New Orleans Pelicans have “aggressively” tried to trade Brandon Ingram since last offseason. Two things have gotten in the way of that: Ingram’s $36 million salary, which is difficult to move, and the fact that this is the last year of his deal, so he is looking for a team that will sign him to a max or near max new contract. There was plenty of friction between New Orleans and Ingram he didn’t show up for the team’s voluntary offseason workoutsalthough by all accounts he has been professional this young season.
The update to this saga is that there is no update. Through what has been an ugly 4-16 start to the season, the Pelicans are still looking to make a trade — one that will take back less money and lower their tax bill — but find a buyer who will sign Ingram long-term , is still a challenge. problem. This is what Brian Windhorst wrote at ESPN.
Sources told ESPN that the two sides cannot agree on a contract extension and that trade talks have been at odds since last summer. Finding a place where New Orleans can value Ingram’s $36 million salary while reducing salary (the Pelicans are currently in the luxury tax for the first time and unlikely to stay there) is difficult enough. But finding a deal with a team that Ingram will feel comfortable signing with has also stalled talks, according to sources.
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps adds that the NBA’s new CBA and associated tax aprons increase the challenge.
The league’s new collective bargaining agreement continues to cause a lot of friction among teams. Signing a player like Ingram, a 6-foot-4 forward who has averaged 20 points per game for six straight seasons, will require a hefty contract next summer. All but a few franchises have a limited salary cap, and teams are reluctant to solidify themselves with a trade early in the season. The various teams in the second platform are not even allowed to trade for him.
Injuries have decimated the Pelicans through the first twenty games of the season and with Zion Williamson expected to miss a lot more time due to a hamstring injury, the Pelicans face some tough choices. While we may only be a quarter of the way through the NBA season, the Pelicans are already 6.5 games out of even the last play-in spot in the West and should leapfrog five teams — and improve their record to .500 or better – just to get into that conversation.
At what point does management start thinking about a pivot to where? refuel, um…aimed at young players and looking for the NBA Draft? (No one in the NBA would really tank, right?) This is a different situation than Philadelphia in the East, just because of the conference disparity — the 3-14 Sixers are just four games out of the postseason and don’t have to get back to .500 to make it. Philly has time to turn the tide, but will New Orleans do the same?
None of this makes trading Ingram any easier. Maybe the Pelicans will just ride with him all season as a scorer on a struggling team. Nothing comes easy for New Orleans this season.
