The New Orleans Pelicans can’t catch a break this season.
According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Brandon Ingram has strained his hamstring and will be out for a least a week and probably more.
New Orleans Pelicans say Brandon Ingram underwent an MRI and it revealed a mild strain of his right hamstring. He will be reevaluated in 7-10 days.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) March 10, 2022
This is devastating news, as the Pelicans have gone 2-14 without Ingram this season, including last night, when they lost at home to the Orlando Magic, the NBA’s worst team.
Both teams were on the tail end of a back-to-back, but that is no excuse for the Pelicans, who needed to grind out a win against a young Magic team.
The Pelicans got 62 points from CJ McCollum and Jonas Valanciunas and 15 from Herb Jones, but other than that, not another Pelican was in double-digits. The bench went a combined 2-of-13 from 3-point range and scored a total of 18 points.
Ingram’s replacement, Tony Snell, scored exactly zero points in 31 minutes, roughly the same number I would score in an NBA game.
Without Ingram, the Pelicans will need someone other than McCollum, Valanciunas and Herb to step up offensively and make some shots. The Pels have three more games at a home before their March 18 showdown at San Antonio, which would likely be the earliest we’ll see Brandon Ingram.
The Pelicans getting some help
Even after losing three in a row, the Pels still hold the 10th seed in the Western Conference, just 1.5 games behind the Lakers, who have lost two in a row themselves, including last night to the Rockets.
Portland has lost six straight, the Spurs lost their last game and have only won four of their last ten and the Kings are four games back of the Pelicans, so New Orleans is fairly safe in their position for now.
The play-in tournament is working as intended, as all of these teams I just mentioned have some reason to play these games out and not tank for lottery position.
I know some fans don’t like it, but it keeps the fringe playoff teams in the mix and the worst thing that happens is that a seven-seed that probably wasn’t going to win their first-round series anyway doesn’t get to the playoffs.
The news about Brandon Ingram couldn’t have come at a worse time, but the Pelicans have to take a “next up” mentality and find someone who can give them a lift, as they can’t count on all of these teams to keep losing.
The Pelicans need to get a couple of wins on this current home stand while they wait for Brandon Ingram to return.