Getty Brandon Ingram of the New Orleans Pelicans.
Former NBA All-Star Brandon Ingram is disgruntled in New Orleans, per several insiders, and would prefer to play for another team starting with the 2024-25 season. Elsewhere, the Warriors could use a reliable 20 PPG-plus scorer such as Ingram to pair with the aging duo of Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
The two parties would benefit from a union. That’s the opinion of Kendrick Perkins. On the July 17 episode of “NBA Today,” the former NBA Champion urged the Warriors to reach out to the Pelicans for a mutually beneficial transaction.
“I would like to see Brandon Ingram [to the Warriors] because we know that the Pelicans are listening to offers,” Perkins said. “Go to the Golden State Warriors. I think Brandon Ingram alongside Draymond Green and Steph Curry not only would do wonders for him, but that would do wonders for the Golden State Warriors.”
Perkins believes Ingram, who averaged 20.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.7 assists in the 2023-24 season, would solve a lot of Golden State’s issues on both sides of the ball.
“This is a young man who has proven that he can go out there and average 25 a night. He’s a bucket-getter. He plays the most important position [the wing] in the game. And putting him alongside Steph Curry and Draymond Green would actually put the Warriors back in the thick of things in the Western Conference.”
Warriors Won’t Have to Overpay
Since Ingram is on an expiring contract, the Pelicans don’t necessarily have a lot of leverage in trade talks. Furthermore, NBA insider Marc Stein reported that Ingram was seeking a $210 million max contract extension with the Pelicans, but the franchise wasn’t willing to make such a financial commitment.
“The Pelicans have made it clear that they won’t go to those lengths to re-sign him and, while various teams have explored Ingram trades since the offseason began in earnest, no other team willing to sign the 26-year-old at those numbers has yet emerged,” Stein wrote on July 10.
To Stein’s point of “no other team” willing to offer Ingram the max extension, the Warriors could acquire the star forward without giving up much of a haul. Elsewhere, in their talks with the Jazz for Lauri Markkanen, it was reported that the Warriors were hesitant to part with Jonathan Kuminga or Brandin Podziemski, leading to their talks falling through.
The Warriors could hypothetically land Ingram with a package of Andrew Wiggins, Moses Moody, and a few first-round picks, thereby retaining their prized core.
On July 16, David Griffin, the EVP of basketball operations for the Pelicans, said that the franchise planned to “play it out” but didn’t sound very optimistic about Ingram’s long-term future with the franchise.
“We’ve been really clear, we’d prefer Brandon stay with us,” Griffin told Sirus XM, via NBA.com. “And Brandon has been pretty clear, he prefers to stay with us.”
“There is a financial reality to this,” Griffin said of the contract negotiations with Ingram. “And where I think we can go in terms of keeping this group together, might not be as far as he and his agency would like us to be able to go. So for now, we’re going to play it out. I think we’re committed to each other and committed to seeing if this team can work in a way that makes sense.”
Ultimately, the team that trades for Ingram is likely the one that will sign him to a new contract. As such, the 2024-25 season will be a contract year for the Duke alum and one in which he could potentially return to All-Star caliber form.
