The New Orleans Pelicans were expected to be major players on the trade market heading into the 2024-25 NBA season. One of the league's worst-kept secrets was that Brandon Ingram was on the chopping block, due to his imperfect fit alongside franchise cornerstone Zion Williamson and his contract dispute with the organization.
Those Ingram trade rumors only picked up steam as the Pelicans started the season without getting an extension done with BI, meaning he'd be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the league year unless he and the team could reach an agreement before June 30. Throughout the campaign, though, the pendulum has swung back and forth on whether or not Ingram would end up getting dealt away.
When he parted ways with his former agency, Excel Sports, and signed on with Klutch, it really made his departure seem inevitable. But a closer look into his current contract, his performance, and his latest injury suggested that keeping him in New Orleans for a bit longer could be in both his and the team's best interests. Now, ESPN's Shams Charania has reported that a trade is still more likely than not.
Brandon Ingram won't be the only Pelican in trade talks this season
Teams have been calling about Herb Jones
HoopsHype's Michael Scotto had suggested that Brandon Ingram wouldn't be the only player generating interest from other teams, reporting that executives around the league believed that CJ McCollum was available for the right price. Charania confirmed that news in his recent post, stating that there have been calls made to the Pelicans' brass regarding CJ's availability.
He's not the only surprising player they've been asking about, though. Charania also reported that Herb Jones has been generating interest. This makes a lot of sense, as Jones is a premier supporting cast member in the NBA, capable of hitting open shots, thriving in transition, and, most importantly, significantly raising a team's defensive ceiling.
While Jones is still a young player with room to grow, someone that the Pelicans might still want to invest in, trading him wouldn't be the worst idea. He could command a greater return than both Ingram and CJ due to his team-friendly contract, youth, and defensive prowess, and his ceiling could be limited next to a paint-bound, defensively-averse player like Zion.
Brandon Ingram - Karl-Anthony Towns almost swapped
Shams Charania also reported that Brandon Ingram received interest from the Minnesota Timberwolves before they ultimately elected to trade Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo instead. If the Wolves were to deal for BI, KAT would have had to be the focal point of the return package, but the window for any sort of deal had already passed by the time the discussions began:
"The Pelicans discussed trades with multiple teams over the summer, but no concrete offer made sense. A level of interest came from the Minnesota Timberwolves, sources told ESPN, and they would have needed to put together a trade concept around Karl-Anthony Towns for Ingram. The window to get a deal done for both teams, however, needed to come during the 2023-24 season, not the offseason, because Towns still would have been under his old contract."