New Orleans Pelicans Rumors: Ingram for Beal? No chance.

One New Orleans Pelicans rumor that needs to be put to rest is that they would consider trading Brandon Ingram for Bradley Beal.

NBA rumor season is officially upon us and the New Orleans Pelicans are at the center of it.

NBA insider Sham Charania recently appeared on the Load Management podcast, where he said the New Orleans Pelicans were one of several teams with interest in trading for Bradley Beal.

This of course set off a tidal wave of trade rumors involving the Pelicans, some of which were reasonable and some that were just plain crazy.

The worst of the lot had the Pelicans trading a ton of young talent AND draft picks to get the All-Star shooting guard. Some rumors had the Pels trading Josh Hart and a couple of first round picks, which seems reasonable, while others seemed more like the fever dreams of kool-aid drinking Wizards’ fans.

Not only did some writers suggest the Wizards should get Ingram plus picks (at least) for Bradley Beal, but one even suggested this might not be enough.

Are we living on the same planet?

The New Orleans Pelicans will not be trading Brandon Ingram for Bradley Beal, and here’s why.

The first reason is that Beal is only marginally better, if at all. Beal has a better scoring average and more assists, but other than that, Ingram is better across the board.

Ingram has a better 3-point percentage (albeit on two fewer attempts per game), is a better rebounder and has three times as many Defensive Win Shares as Beal.

Beal’s scoring average is only higher because he has a 34.4 percent usage rate compared to Ingram’s 28.2 percent.

The second reason is that the Pelicans are already loaded with shooting guards and thin at wing. They are not going to trade their best wing for a position where they already have Jrue Holiday, J.J. Redick, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and E’Twaun Moore.

The third reason is that Beal is four years older than Ingram. Beal is what he is at age 26 and is not likely to get much better than he is right now. Ingram is just 22-years-old and just starting to scratch the surface of his potential.

In four years Ingram will be better than Beal, who will be 30-years-old and making $37 million. No thanks.

Rumors are just that, so I put zero stock in anyone who suggests the New Orleans Pelicans would even consider trading Ingram for Beal.

If any type of trade for Beal were to happen, it won’t involve Brandon Ingram, sorry Wizards’ fans.