At long last, the New Orleans Pelicans faithful have received the news they've been waiting all season to hear: Brandon Ingram has been traded. After months on end of rumors and speculation, the Toronto Raptors have come away as the winners of the BI sweepstakes.
Ingram will be heading to the Great White North in return for Bruce Brown Jr., Kelly Olynyk, a top-four protected first-round pick in 2026, and a future second-rounder. At one point in the season, it seemed as if BI may have been the best available player at the trade deadline. As it turns out, he's just one of many stars to change teams this year, and he's hardly the biggest name to have been chopped.
Ingram joins a growing list of players featuring high-profile talents like Luka Doncic, Anthony Davis, and Jimmy Butler who have jumped ship before the deadline. The Raptors emerged as late suitors for BI, with their primary competition being the Atlanta Hawks, but they came away victorious. After such a long and arduous saga, this Brandon Ingram might seem underwhelming for the Pelicans at first, but they made out pretty well all things considered.
The New Orleans Pelicans should consider the Brandon Ingram trade a win
No matter what, the Pelicans and Vice President David Griffin went into these negotiations with a huge load of pressure lifted off of their shoulders. After the Dallas Mavericks and their President of Basketball Operations Nico Harrison traded away a 25-year-old Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers without warning or due process, it instantly relieved every other NBA team of the fear of making the worst trade of the year.
All in all, though, New Orleans did pretty well in this deal. Ingram is looking at unrestricted free agency after this season unless he now signs an extension with Toronto before the end of the league year on June 30. He's been hurt for the majority of the campaign. Before he went down this season, he spent years developing a reputation as an anti-analytics, ball-dominant, one-way player whose optimal situation directly contrasted with what was best for his team.
Getting a top-four protected first-round pick from a team likely to be in the lottery in 2026 in return for his expiring contract is a steal. If the Pelicans were wise, they'd be fielding last-minute offers from contenders for both Bruce Brown Jr. and Kelly Olynyk before the deadline. Neither of them should be part of New Orleans's future plans and both could easily contribute playoff minutes for any team looking to compete for the title this season.
Even if the Pelicans don't find any deals they like for Brown and Olynyk before the deadline, they're still great pieces to have gotten in return. Brown's $23 million cap figure comes off of the books this summer which will give New Orleans much-needed financial relief and flexibility. Olynyk will still have one year left on his contract next season for just under $13.5 million. He could be a valuable backup for Yves Missi as a floor-spacing center or could be flipped next year for additional assets. The second-round pick is a nice little cherry on top.
There's almost no doubt that the Pelicans could have gotten a better return for Ingram had they decided to trade him before this season. That said, there's no point in criticizing this deal in retrospect now. In the end, New Orleans and Griffin did what was right and found a new home for the veteran scorer and got a pretty decent package in return.