Brandon Ingram primed for “prove it” season with New Orleans Pelicans

After missing Monday afternoon’s rookie-scale contract extension deadline, Brandon Ingram will play the 2019-2020 season to earn a paycheck this summer.

On Monday afternoon, Brandon Ingram watched as Pascal Siakam, Buddy Hield, Jaylen Brown, Dejounte Murray, and Domantas Sabonis all signed their rookie-scale extensions. Ingram finished the day without one in tow.

Without securing a deal by 6 p.m. EST on Monday afternoon, Ingram will now hit restricted free agency next summer.

It makes sense why the New Orleans Pelicans’ front office wasn’t ready to commit to Ingram before seeing him play in their uniform.

While he’s young and shows signs of potential stardom at the NBA level, he’s missed 23 or more games in each of the last two seasons. Last season, Brandon Ingram’s season ended when a doctor found blood clots in his arm, a similar condition to the one that ended Chris Bosh‘s career in basketball.

His frame does make some wonder about his durability, but it’s also what makes him so intriguing. He’s 6’9″ with a 7’3″ wingspan, giving him a 9’6.5″ standing reach to tower over a league-average scoring wing. However, he weighs just 190 lbs, making it hard for him to bump bodies in the paint.

Joining the New Orleans Pelicans in the Anthony Davis trade, Brandon Ingram played impressive basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers in 52 games last season. He averaged 18.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3 assists, shooting a 51.8% effective field goal rate, but never found a flow next to LeBron James.

Ingram not being able to find comfort playing alongside James might ultimately be what made him moveable in the eyes of the Lakers’ front office.

Both James and Ingram play small forward and need the ball in their hands to have their greatest success on the court. Granted, LeBron is the second-greatest player of all-time and Ingram is a 22-year-old player without an All-Star nod, so it was always going to be in James’s favor.

Now, as most thought would be the case when he found himself traded to the Pelicans, Brandon Ingram will have to use the 2019-2020 season to leverage in his offseason negotiations.

Brandon Ingram has the biggest breakout potential of any New Orleans Pelicans player on the roster, with shot selection being key.

Entering the 2019-2020 NBA season, the New Orleans Pelicans have set themselves a roster capable of making the leap into the playoffs. However, they’ll need to see a few of their players make a leap, including fourth-year forward Brandon Ingram.

If he wants to cement his status in the league, he needs to be a knock-down three-point shooter, or at least shoot better from that range this season. It’s not that the three-point shot has trickled out of Ingram’s game, he’s just not knocking them home with the same frequency.

During the 2018-2019 season, Ingram shot 39% from three-point range on 1.8 attempts per game. The following season, when LeBron James got to town, Ingram’s three-point rate fell to a 33% rate on 1.8 attempts per game, a significant drop-off from the prior season.

He also only shot 14.1% of his shots from three-point range last season, which is far too few in a league trending towards bigger shooters. He shot 20.4% of his shots from 10-to-16 feet away, converting 38.9% of those looks, which is far too low of a rate for a low-value shot.

Already improving his looks with the New Orleans Pelicans, Ingram is starting to migrate back out to the three-point line in Alvin Gentry’s tempo-centric offensive system.

The preseason showed a renewed Ingram from that range. He hit 38.5% from three-point territory, attempting 2.6 shots per game from that territory while playing 22.3 minutes per game.

Ingram also has some work to do in the free throw department. Not just with his conversion rate, but how regularly he gets to the stripe.

Attempting 5.6 free throws per game ago, Ingram did show strides in the getting-to-the-basket department, but only 67.2% of his looks from the stripe.

Ideally, Ingram should have the numbers 7-5 in mind for both; if Ingram shoots 7.5 free throws per game at a 75% rate, that’s an average of 5.6 points from the line per night, which is pretty substantial for a starting scorer.

The Zion injury makes Brandon Ingram a go-to scorer to start the year

When Zion Williamson went down with a torn right meniscus to start the 2019-2020 season, it made it hard for fans to see the positives. Zion is going to be looked at as the focal point of this team for years, so now the team will get the chance to learn how to play with him off the floor.

Perhaps no player will benefit from the Zion injury than Brandon Ingram, who does need the ball in his hands to score to be the best version of himself on the court.

Lacking the offensive contributions of Zion, which came to the tune of 23.3 points per game during the preseason, the Pelicans are going to need more offensive scoring factors.

During the preseason, Ingram averaged 14.4 points, which was fourth on the team and second among starters. When he plays more minutes and isn’t playing next to an interior scoring prodigy, Ingram projects seems like a 20-plus point per game scorer.

Sure, Jrue Holiday can make it happen and Lonzo Ball can push the rock, but Ingram is the best pure scorer on the floor, perhaps even when Williamson is in the game.

Tonight against the Toronto Raptors, it’ll be key for Brandon Ingram to make some big shots for this team, heading into one of the loudest buildings in the league on the night of the NBA Championship banner and ringer ceremony.

Ingram could very likely be tasked with going to work against Pascal Siakam, one of the better two-way players in the league. Siakam will force Ingram to work for shots, looking for screens and transition chaos to put a smaller defender in his path.

If Ingram proves he can work against elite defenders while holding his own on the defensive end, he’s going to improve what the team is going to be willing to offer at season’s end.

Entering the 2019-2020 season, Brandon Ingram has a lot of money on the line. However, with his situation in New Orleans, he has the tools to be able to earn his keep, as long as he continues to blossom and find his comfort zone alongside the rest of the team.