Every fanbase likes to think that their players are underrated by the rest of the league. It’s in our nature as fans. But for the New Orleans Pelicans, they have a pretty legitimate reason to believe that when it comes to Brandon Ingram.
After all, Ingram hasn’t seen an All-Star birth in any of his last three seasons in the league, despite averaging over 22 PPG, 5 RPG, and 5 APG in each of those years (although injuries may have played a role in his omission on the team).
But, after a strong finish to the 2022-23 NBA Regular Season, it looks like the rest of the league is starting to appreciate his greatness (or maybe they always have, and no one wanted to say it out loud).
In a recent poll conducted by NBA University, NBA Twitter folks were asked who the best player was between Ingram, Lauri Markkanen, Domantas Sabonis, and Pascal Siakam.
Before we talk about the results, there are two important things we need to point out. First, every one of those players other than Ingram was named an All-Star in 2022-23. And second, as of writing this, 21,337 people submitted votes to this poll. So, we have a massive sample size to work with here.
Anyway, for those who don’t follow NBA University, here are what the results are at this point:
Best Player Here? Rank if brave…
— NBA University (@NBA_University) August 21, 2023
While the poll is still going on, Ingram is the leading vote-getter, obtaining 35.9% of the vote share (7,660 votes). That is far from a unanimous victory. But the fact that he’s able to garner more votes than three reigning All-Stars is a massive admission of highly he is viewed around the league now.
And if you have been watching Ingram (considering you read this website you probably do), you know that this respect is well-deserved. The NBA University Twitter account also made a post on Monday about how well the Pelicans performed on double teams, and the numbers paint the same picture as the Twitter poll – he’s one of the very best.
Brandon Ingram was double-teamed on the 10th highest percentage (29.1%) of possessions of ANY player in ‘22-‘23
— NBA University (@NBA_University) August 21, 2023
Pels produced 1.22 points per poss on those plays. That’s better than the best offense in the NBA (1.18)!! BI is special when he drives, applies pressure, & playmakes pic.twitter.com/rco3KS3mH4
That means that if you are conceding the double team to Ingram, you are also forfeiting the most efficient offense in the league. That makes sense, considering how special of a player Ingram is. And it’s a good thing that the NBA world is seeing it.