New Orleans Pelicans: Brandon Ingram deserves an extension, also needs to make leap

Entering the fourth and final year of his rookie contract, the New Orleans Pelicans should ink Brandon Ingram, then wait for his leap to superstardom.

Waiting for greatness to develop in sports can be a lot to ask for from fans, but when it happens, it’s something beautiful to behold. Right now, the New Orleans Pelicans are waiting for a lot of potential greatness to grow. However, waiting for a player like Brandon Ingram to flower could result in glory and greatness for the prolonged future.

Some observers might be turned off by Ingram’s reserved personality. He’s not outwardly emotional, nor is he someone to feed the media a hot quote. Instead, he maintains a leveled voice, playing with the chilled demeanor like someone there to focus on the job at hand. This offseason, he’s been around the Pelicans and has been participating in workouts, getting comfortable with a brand new team in the fourth year of his career.

Over the summer, Ingram turned just 22-years-old and still has a long career ahead of him, giving him plenty of time to develop into an even more daunting basketball player. The Pelicans get a chance to turn a rare prospect into one of the best players in their franchise history, someone who could potentially make an All-Star leap this season. Spending the first three seasons of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers, Ingram can start chasing his fullest potential in New Orleans.

Ingram has a ton of the physical tools you’d want from a modern scoring forward. He stands 6’9″ with a 7’3″ wingspan, great footwork, and has a tremendous leap, allowing him to 1.) rise over bigger defenders for jump shots and 2.) attack the rim with authority. No one’s going to mistake Ingram for LeBron James, but comparisons to Kevin Durant have followed him since his second-overall selection out of Duke; Durant has gone as far as to say it’s “like I’m looking in a mirror.” He’s only about 190 LBS and still has some work to do in the filling-out-his-frame department, but it’s his touch and vision, not his strength, that makes him such an interesting young player.

Trying to maximize Ingram next to LeBron was always going to undermine the development of the young prospect. Ingram is a true small forward, as is James. Both players are better with the ball in their hands; Ingram had a career-high usage rate of 23.2% to LeBron’s 31.6% rate. Both players are just above-average three-point shooters (Ingram shot 33% from three while James shot 33.9% during the 18-19 season). No matter what, that fit next to James wasn’t going to work; it’s best for his career that he got out of Los Angeles.

While Ingram still has strides to make as a three-point shooter, the Pelicans need him to take a higher volume of shots from that territory. Last season, Ingram took the fewest threes of his career, shooting only 12.9% of his attempts from that range. He did, however, shoot 14.1% of his shots from deep two-point range, but hit 43.7% of those looks. Like a lot of players, he took most of his shots around the rim, 34% of them, and completed 68.1% of his looks from that range.

Taking more shots from three-point range does more than just give a team more looks at higher point value shots, it really opens up the floor on the offensive end. Last year, 10 of the 15 teams who attempted the most threes made the playoffs. This season, the New Orleans Pelicans are going to need floor spacers to be good and Ingram could be a part of that answer if he starts finding more a groove from that territory.

Reviewing tape on Ingram, it’s clear that he’s not afraid to take on anyone on the offensive end. He’s talented enough on the offensive end to attack bigger defenders and still score, thanks to his creativity and attacking instinct. During his 2018-2019 campaign in Los Angeles, Ingram shot 19% of his shots with defenders in tight coverage (within two-to-four feet) and had a 43.1% effective field goal rate on those looks.

Keeping Brandon Ingram in New Orleans Pelicans’ Jersey is a forward-thinking move that makes this team more appealing for the future

If for no other reason than protecting themselves against the market, the New Orleans Pelicans’ front office should ink an extension with Ingram before the deadline at the start of the season. The Pelicans might be able to save a few million dollars before a team makes him a max offer amoungst a free agent class lacking top-tier talent.

The New Orleans Pelicans, like most of the other teams around the league, should be playing for the 2021 Free Agent class, full of superstars that could include Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, and LeBron James, to name a few. It’s also the summer the Pelicans could also have to make a hard choice on Lonzo Ball‘s contract.

Looking at the Pelicans’ books for the future, they’ll have enough cap space to create one max slot in 2021 even if they were to allow the full 5-yr., $158.1 million deal for Ingram’s rookie scale extension. They could currently create two, but it’s more realistic for them to hold onto one spot. In reality, Ingram’s contract might look something more like the one Zach LaVine received from the Chicago Bulls two offseasons ago; he signed a 4-yr., $78 million deal resulting in an average annual salary of $19.5 million, which is probably still less than what Ingram will receive.

To get ahead of their books, the Pelicans should really prioritize getting this contract done before the team hits their extension deadline on Oct. 21, the day before the season kicks-off. This prevents Ingram from hitting restricted free agency, where a team could throw him a ton of money. Not that the Pelicans wouldn’t match an offer sheet, but anytime your team can pay less money for the same player, you’re doing your books a favor down the line.

With under a month to get a deal done and no rampant rumors of the two parties negotiating a deal on the radar, it seems like Ingram’s contract situation will be something the team puts off until the offseason. Their thinking is reasonable. Ingram has something to prove on the court, but they can’t get a look until the regular season kicks off, one day after the rookie scale extension deadline.

The health concerns do make you think a little harder about making a long term commitment to the fourth-year scorer. He’s missed 53 games over the past two seasons, including the blood clot deep in his right arm that held him out for the final 19 games of the 2018-2019 season. In fact, Ingram’s blood clot condition is the same one that ended Chris Bosh‘s career, only Bosh’s clots were located in his leg instead of his upper body.

Ultimately, production gets people paid in this league.

If the ultimate expectation is for Ingram to be productive for the New Orleans Pelicans, it could prudent to ink him to a deal before it gets more expensive. With the considerable talent accompanying him this roster and Ingram being a very young player, betting on him is a pretty strong play for the future of this team.

Brandon Ingram is young and will be in this league for a long time, in some capacity, but it seems like his floor is a career starter. With his peak looking being superstardom, putting your chips in on a guy like this can be the start of something big in the Big Easy.