Pelicans finally find new home for Brandon Ingram

The deal comes on the heels of starting point guard Dejounte Murray’s season-ending Achilles tear, an injury that has to be the final nail in the coffin in what has been an absolutely abysmal 2024-25 season for the Pelicans. But even long before Murray’s season-ending injury, the end of Ingram’s tenure in New Orleans had appeared imminent. 

Partially due to Ingram’s questionable fit alongside Zion Williamson, and partially due to the emergence of younger more malleable wings like Herb Jones and Trey Murphy III, Ingram’s long-term fit with the Pelicans has looked awkward at best for quite some time now. 

Additionally, while Ingram is a talented player and gifted scorer, his overall value probably doesn’t quite measure up to his current salary. This became blatantly obvious when the Pelicans were unwilling to offer Ingram a four-year, $208 million max contract offer last offseason. From that moment on, an eventual breakup between Ingram and the Pelicans was only a matter of time. 

For the Pelicans to net two high-level role players and two draft picks is actually a pretty handsome return for a player of Ingram’s stature, considering that he is playing out the final year of his contract. Additionally, when you take into account the Pelicans potential to flip both Olynyk and Brown Jr into more future-focused assets down the line, the return for Ingram looks even more promising. 

It's a bit strange to see a player of Ingram’s caliber be traded mid-season from one uninspiring team to another. But it's undeniable that Ingram being in the final year of his contract scared off a handful of teams. It’s still at least somewhat surprising that a team looking to make a postseason push—or at least a team closer to playoff contention than the Raptors—didn’t pony up a similar trade package and make a move for the disgruntled Pelican’s star.