The New Orleans Pelicans finished the season’s exit interviews with the players and Brandon Ingram made it clear that he thinks the team should re-sign Lonzo Ball.
The decision of what to do with restricted free agent Lonzo Ball will be the biggest of the offseason for the New Orleans Pelicans, who also have to decide what to do with Josh Hart.
The Pels have the cap space to bring both of them back, but the question is whether Lonzo Ball’s inconsistency will put the Pelicans off giving him a massive new deal.
Brandon Ingram is one person who thinks this is a no-brainer and that the Pels should definitely retain both Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart.
New Orleans Pelicans: Brandon Ingram wants to keep Lonzo Ball
Ingram talked to reporters about his exit interview and used the time to publicly lobby for keeping Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart, which is pretty telling considering Ingram is normally pretty quiet.
As one of the cornerstones of the franchise rebuild along with Zion Williamson, Ingram’s words are going to carry some amount of weight with the franchise as they try to decide what to do with Lonzo Ball.
Here is the full quote from Ingram’s interview:
"“I really hope those guys can be with us next year, of course. In my exit meeting, I talked a lot about those guys, especially Zo and how I think he’s a generational talent with his passing ability and the things he sees on the basketball floor that nobody sees, his I.Q., how he can manipulate the game and on the defensive end, he can pretty much guard everybody one through three. That’s something special to have.”"
Ingram is obviously using his platform as one of the franchise players to make the case for his teammate and friend.
Even though Lonzo Ball was inconsistent this year, I would love to see the New Orleans Pelicans bring him back so that he, Ingram, and Zion can grow together and eventually do something special in New Orleans.
Brandon Ingram’s comments will definitely put some amount of pressure on the franchise to get this done.