Brandon Ingram: The Misunderstood Star Struggling to Find His Place in the NBA

Around 2020, Brandon Ingram officially entered the ranks of star players. In his first season with the Pelicans, he found a way to turn his talent into something tangible. At that time, he averaged 23.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, and was selected for the All-Star Game. We once thought he could join other young stars like Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell and be poised to lead the rise of a generation of heartthrobs.

However, he failed to achieve this. While Tatum and Mitchell continue to climb, Ingram is on a plateau. In the four seasons since he won the “Best player” award in 2020, Ingram has not produced special results, as his averages have always increased between 24.7 points and 20.8 points each game, with assists and rebounds slightly from year to year.

The only difference between Ingram in 2021 and 2024 is the percentage of three-pointers he knocks down. While the league’s top players continue to evolve and challenge themselves, Ingram has retreated to his comfort zone, refining his shooting technique rather than his overall game.

Now, Ingram finds himself perhaps no longer the leader of the team, as Zion Williamson is undoubtedly the heart of the Pelicans when healthy. Because of his dominance in the paint, Williamson can reach heights that Ingram could never achieve.

Ingram is still a good player, but he is increasingly difficult to evaluate. He is a talented offensive player, but he limits himself and refuses to take better shots. There is a curious question behind its effectiveness:

“Why does a player with excellent finishing ability, accurate mid-range shooting, and a league-average three-point shooting percentage have a below-average true shooting percentage? Why would such a special player allow himself to be so mean?”

Therefore, the Pelicans chose to build a team that better fits Williamson’s needs. Herb Jones and Trey Murphy III are very useful wing players, but they play the same position as Ingram; CJ McCollum and Dejounte Murray are high-usage guards, but their shooting ranges on the court overlap with Ingram’s.

For the Pelicans, Ingram is almost useless. He’s an effective shooter, but McCollum and Murray are better; he is a versatile passer, but Williamson is more important in setting up an offense.

In the summer, the Pelicans were unwilling to give Ingram a lucrative new contract and were actively seeking a trade in the final year of his contract, but no one was willing to take him over. While Ingram has good stats and obvious abilities, he’s not a good fit for a team with championship aspirations. No team in the league but one Brandon Ingram is away from holding a championship parade.

While the current Ingram is still a fringe star, his accomplishments are not good enough. As a former All-Star in a major role, Ingram is clearly more than a mid-level contract player and shouldn’t just be a cornerback. However, as a player who struggles to create effective scoring chances, being one of the key members of a championship level team is not good enough. He prepared for stardom all his life but ended up being elite in form rather than substance.

Right now, Ingram’s main value to the Pelicans is as a backup when Williamson is injured. The task is not to push the team to the top of the Western Conference, but to prevent the team from falling to the bottom. It is worth noting that Ingram performs better when separated from Williamson.

In 1,017 minutes without Williamson last season, Ingram averaged 36.9 points and 10.2 assists per 100 possessions; Likewise, the Pelicans score three more points per 100 possessions with Ingram alone than when the two play together.

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Regardless, Ingram still deserves to be the centerpiece of the team as it is nearly impossible to find star level players willing to join this small market team in New Orleans. The Pelicans would be foolish to pass on Ingram, as it is unlikely that they will get a player as talented as him in the future. Furthermore, Ingram is not lost, but rather confused; if he changes his shot selection a bit, he could make a big improvement.

The team never showed real vision during Ingram’s time with the Pelicans, and his career was more of a disappointment than the Pelicans’ problem. A good team would have come up with a better plan to make Ingram a better player.

Of all the ways to use the talented 6-foot-8 forward, relying exclusively on mid-range jumpers is the most interesting and least effective way to do it. In a parallel world, the Pelicans could have found a way to blend Ingram’s elegance with Williamson’s violence instead of pitting the two against each other.