The New Orleans Pelicans have completely broken down this season, going 5-23 so far amid a wave of injuries that has sidelined most of their players. Brandon Ingram is one of those stars this season and was a coveted target on the trade market according to many. With the Pelicans reportedly willing to listen to offers for Ingram and his $36 million expiring contract, the Los Angeles Lakers might be interested.
The Lakers have major offensive holes on their roster that a complete scoring threat like Ingram can easily fill, averaging 22.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 5.2 assists this season. His on-ball playmaking is above average for most scoring forwards like him and he could help improve the Lakers’ top-end play as a major perimeter option that teams have to account for alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Ingram’s expiring contract and reported desire to test free agency means that the Pelicans could move off him for cheap and a team like the Lakers could take the bait. This won’t be a good idea for a number of reasons that we will break down here.
Not Worth Moving A Draft Pick
There’s little justification for why the Lakers, a team that has become exceedingly stingy with trading draft picks, would move off a pick for Ingram. There are multiple factors for this, not including his expiring contract at the end of the season.
Ingram would boost the team’s offense but it would be asking a lot of him to also be a high-level defender given he’s never shown that before. Moving off a draft pick for a one-dimensional offensive player who might leave the franchise in half a season would be asinine, but the Pelicans have no reason to let him go if they can’t add a future draft asset.
Other teams might easily outbid the Lakers if they hear they’re close to landing Ingram, as his market shouldn’t be robust but could attract struggling contenders to take a one-year flyer on Ingram and offload a first-round draft pick for him.
The Lakers have only two tradeable first-round picks right now, and moving even one for Ingram would be foolish.
Outgoing Players Would Weaken Team Depth Even Further
The new salary rules in the NBA have added a whole new dimension to roster-building, as teams can’t just add major players on minimum contracts or through trades to continue pushing deeper into the luxury tax. If the Lakers want Ingram, they’ll need to send the Pelicans players who would make up that salary sum. That is pretty significant to their depth, as it likely would lead to the exit of both D’Angelo Russell ($18.6 million) and Rui Hachimura ($17 million).
The Lakers wouldn’t mind losing Russell for Ingram, but giving up Hachimura would be a tough pill to swallow. He’s emerged as a versatile do-it-all forward who makes the Lakers better, so trading him away would be foolish on a bet like Ingram.
The Lakers will have to get extremely creative in making this deal happen with Russell and Gabe Vincent ($11 million) plus Jarred Vanderbilt ($10.7 million), but there’s no incentive for the Pels to accept that without a first-round pick, which we’ve already discussed would be bad for the Lakers to offer.
Losing Hachimura or a pick for Ingram right now would not be a good move for the Lakers. Their playable rotation is already thin, so losing multiple players in this deal seems untenable given the other gaping holes in the roster this would leave.
A Potential One-Year Rental Without Major Upside
Ingram’s contract will be a major concern for any team that acquires him, as the forward has made it clear he’s playing for a max contract. He declined big extensions from the Pelicans already, so a mid-season move might ensure he has to test the market to get full value in a new contract. They don’t want to max him out and it’s hard to imagine a situation where the Lakers would want to either.
So if an Ingram trade leads to just half a season of basketball, the Lakers will regret giving up either the future assets it required to land him or the players sent in the deal. Even if he joins the Lakers in an trade and performs up to par, it won’t address their lack of POA defenders on their roster or the lack of competent big men behind Anthony Davis.
The best case for the Lakers is that Ingram helps them solidify a top-six seed somehow and be a part of one Playoff series win, but nobody would seriously think the Lakers are championship contenders with a roster that would substitute talents like Russell and Hachimura for Ingram. It improves their top-end production but leaves too many holes, especially defensively with Hachimura leaving.
The Lakers are better off searching for marginal moves that they can make happen by using players like Vincent, Vanderbilt, or Jalen Hood-Schifino. They can’t land you a player of Ingram’s caliber, but it could land the right depth pieces to make the Lakers more competitive as a whole.
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