For some reason, the New Orleans Pelicans seem dead set on trading Brandon Ingram. Ingram is entering the final year of his current contract, which will pay him $36,016,200. He is eligible for a 4-year extension that could pay him up to $52 million per season and the two sides have been at an impasse as it relates to hashing out a new deal for the forward. The Pelicans have never crossed into luxury tax territory and signing Ingram to close to what his talents would command will push them past that threshold.
Despite the claims of the Pelicans’ Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations that the team wants to retain their star forward, and that he, Ingram, wants to remain with the club, it appears that he may be on the trading block.
One of the teams in the mix could be the Sacramento Kings, who was described as a “team to potentially keep an eye on” by Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
Scotto adds that the offers the Kings had out to the Pelicans centered around Kevin Huerter, Harrison Barnes, and the 13th pick that was ultimately used to select Devin Carter and other draft capital.
However there has been no deal in place, Sacramento has multiple future picks at their disposal to further sweeten a potential Ingram trade. It will not be cheap to pry Ingram away from New Orleans, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey, the Pelicans’ are seeking a “steep” price for the All-Star forward.
Ingram appeared in 64 games and averaged 20.8 points, 5.7 assists, and 5.1 rebounds on .492/.355/.801 splits.
