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DENVER – Brandon Ingram will go down as one of the better players to wear a Pelicans uniform and be a key figurehead in the team’s transition into the post-Anthony Davis era. However, it was no surprise to see him traded on Wednesday night.
As the Pelicans headed to the locker room following a 144-119 loss to the Denver Nuggets, the team was finalizing a blockbuster deal that would send Ingram to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk, a 2026 top-4 protected first-round pick (via Indiana) and an additional second-round pick, multiple league sources told The Athletic.
Brandon Ingram trade grades: Pelicans finally part ways with one-time All-Star
It was the long-awaited end to a saga that began last summer, when New Orleans made it clear the two sides would not agree on the long-term extension Ingram was seeking. Once contract talks ended, Ingram and the Pelicans were motivated to find a new home for the 27-year-old, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
But that didn’t make the breakup any less difficult.
After the trade news became public, Ingram went to the locker room and bid farewell to his teammates and the staff who had worked with him during his six seasons in New Orleans. His departure capped an emotional day that began with reserve center Daniel Theis being dealt to the Oklahoma City Thunder just as New Orleans was wrapping up its morning shootaround.
As the team surrounded Theis on the Ball Arena floor and said their goodbyes, there was a feeling that this was just the beginning. Ingram was one of the biggest names remaining on the market after Luka Dončić, Anthony Davis, De’Aaron Fox, Jimmy Butler and Zach LaVine had been moved.
As Ingram left the locker room — and the Pelicans franchise — for good, one of his teammates could be heard exclaiming, “Not my dog!” as whispers around the room confirmed the deal with Toronto was complete. Zion Williamson was the last Pelicans player Ingram spoke to before he left.
That was fitting since Wednesday’s trade marked the official end of the Williamson-Ingram partnership that was supposed to usher in a new era of New Orleans basketball.
After acquiring Ingram from the Los Angeles Lakers in the Davis trade and drafting Williamson with the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, many believed the Pelicans had a young core in place for the next decade.
Ingram and Williamson each have displayed moments of brilliance during their time together. Both reached the All-Star Game before the age of 25. Both averaged at least 20 points every season they’ve been in New Orleans (excluding 2021-22, when Williamson missed the entire season). And both signed max contracts at different points during their six-year tenure with the Pelicans.
While the Pelicans reached the playoffs twice over the last six years, the Williamson-Ingram era will be remembered most for how much the two faces of the franchise struggled to stay on the floor.
The Pelicans have played 441 games in the regular season since Ingram and Williamson arrived; both of them were in the lineup for just 154 of them. That means if you turned on a Pelicans game at any point over the last six seasons, there was a less than 35 percent chance you’d see the team’s two best players in uniform. They also never played a single playoff minute together.
While New Orleans compiled an 81-73 record with Williamson and Ingram in the lineup, it rarely felt like both of them were playing at the top of their game at the same time. Most of their brightest moments as Pelicans came while the other was injured.
Ingram, in particular, reached the peak of his career in 2021-22, when he led the Pelicans to the playoffs while Williamson was out for the season with a broken foot. In his first postseason, Ingram averaged 27 points, 6.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists in a six-game series against the top-seeded Phoenix Suns.
“Brandon is special. He’s a coach’s dream. He comes in every day. He works. He’s a team guy,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said of Ingram after that series. “His teammates love to be around him, and he can flat-out play. His future is bright, and the sky is the limit.”
Even during the highest point in their partnership — last year’s 49-win team — Ingram and Williamson were hit by critical injuries at the worst possible time.
Ingram suffered a left knee bone contusion with a little less than a month left in the regular season. He worked his way back, but his play through the Pelicans’ first-round sweep by Oklahoma City was diminished.
Williamson played one of his best games as a pro before straining his left hamstring in the final minutes of the Pelicans’ Play-In Tournament loss against the Los Angeles Lakers. Williamson missed the entire Thunder series.
While Williamson is mostly responsible for the lack of on-court experience these two had together, Ingram missed a combined 82 games over the three seasons before 2024-25. He hasn’t played since Dec. 7 after suffering a high-grade lower ankle sprain. In their final season together, Ingram and Williamson were both in the lineup for just six of the team’s 51 games.
As great as they’ve both looked individually, the Pelicans couldn’t continue investing in that pairing.
But even after reaching that conclusion last summer, the Pelicans still had hopes one last run with Ingram and Williamson could yield great results. Many within the organization believed this year’s roster had more talent than any Pelicans team from the previous five seasons.
After trading for veteran guard Dejounte Murray, the Pelicans went into training camp with three former All-Stars — Williamson, Ingram and Murray — along with three high-level complementary players in Trey Murphy III, CJ McCollum and Herb Jones.
Williamson, Ingram and Murray never played a single minute together because of their various injuries and ailments. The most noteworthy of those injuries occurred less than a week ago when Murray ruptured his right Achilles tendon. The Pelicans went from Western Conference sleeper over the summer to a 12-39 record.
Dejounte Murray’s Achilles injury is devastating for him and the Pelicans
There were a few people left in the organization who believed the Ingram-Williamson duo still had potential, but this year’s results dashed all that remaining optimism. And Murray’s gut-wrenching injury made it even more apparent the Pelicans needed to prepare for what the next phase of this organization would look like.
For anyone wondering why the Pelicans were so convinced this was the right time to move on from Ingram and invest in the young talent on the roster, look no further than the last three games.
Murphy, one of the most improved players in the NBA, had unquestionably the best three-game stretch of his career as Ingram’s time with the team was winding down.
Murphy scored 41 points on 21 field-goal attempts in Wednesday’s loss at Denver. That came just a few days after he put up 40 points on 20 field-goal attempts in a last-second loss against the defending champion Boston Celtics. Murphy joined Davis as the only player in franchise history with back-to-back 40-point games. Murphy also had a career-high nine assists Wednesday.
“CJ (McCollum) told me two years ago, when you command a double-team, that means you command respect,” Williamson said Wednesday. “Trey has been showing why he commands a double-team. … I’m excited to see his growth.”
The Pelicans’ intentions to transition from Ingram to Murphy as one of the faces of the franchise was apparent last summer when New Orleans awarded Murphy a four-year, $112 million contract that’s already starting to look like a bargain before it even kicks in.
New Orleans plans to build around the trio of Williamson, Murphy and Murray, believing they are a more seamless fit on the court than Williamson and Ingram ever were.
The rest of this season, more time will be spent developing young players such as Yves Missi, Jordan Hawkins, Karlo Matkovic and Brandon Boston Jr. And as its record continues to plummet, New Orleans becomes more likely to add a top-5 pick in this year’s draft.
With all these new faces and mainstays like Ingram, Jonas Valančiūnas, Larry Nance Jr., Naji Marshall and Dyson Daniels all gone, it’s clear that the post-Ingram era in New Orleans is already taking shape.
The Pelicans achieved one of their primary goals going into Ingram negotiations, according to league sources: shedding salary from an already expensive roster ahead of the 2025-26 season. Olynyk accounts for $13.4 million next season, but multiple league sources say the Pelicans are exploring the possibility of moving him before Thursday’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline. Williamson, Murray, Murphy, McCollum and Jones already account for over $140 million on next year’s books. Throw in a top-5 pick, and that number will jump by nearly another $10 million.
But as New Orleans prepares for its next phase, the big question becomes how much more change does the organization want to see?
Is CJ McCollum part of the future? Will Green continue as coach? And, most importantly, will Williamson continue to be the face of the franchise?
Based on conversations I’ve had in recent weeks, several of the Pelicans higher-ups have been very happy with Williamson’s work behind the scenes to improve his conditioning and performance on the court.
While nothing is off the table in a post-Luka Dončić-to-Lakers world, I’d be surprised if Williamson isn’t a member of the Pelicans after Thursday’s deadline.
A veteran team might view McCollum as a valuable scoring option in the playoffs, but his name hasn’t come up often in rumors around the league, partially because of his $30.6 million contract next season. He’s also spoken to some folks around the team about wanting to remain in New Orleans beyond his current deal.
In the end, this was the change that both Ingram and New Orleans needed. Both sides will begin next season with a fresh outlook that’s been long overdue.
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(Photo: Alika Jenner / Getty Images)
