There hasn’t been much chatter on the rumor mill about Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram in recent weeks, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link). However, Fischer suggests there’s still a chance that Ingram could return prior to the trade deadline from his ankle injury, giving potential suitors a chance to take a look at him for multiple games leading up to February 6.
Even if that happens, there’s certainly no guarantee Ingram will be moved this season. Fischer hears that the Pelicans – like the Heat with Jimmy Butler – don’t mind postponing their decision on Ingram until the offseason, since they’re confident they’ll still have a good deal of leverage at that time, even with the forward entering unrestricted free agency.
Ingram would likely need New Orleans’ help to get to a preferred destination via sign-and-trade, so the Pelicans could decide at that point whether they want to work out a deal with a new team or simply let the former All-Star walk for the sake of cap flexibility.
It’s also worth noting that, unlike the Butler situation in Miami, the relationship between Ingram and the Pelicans hasn’t deteriorated to the point where a divorce seems inevitable — Fischer hears that New Orleans remains open to the idea of re-signing Ingram beyond this season if the two sides can agree on a price, which didn’t happen last season when they discussed an extension.
Here are a few more trade rumors from around the NBA:
- Although their unexpected success this season has the Pistons reconsidering how they might use their remaining $14MM in cap room at the trade deadline, Fischer says Detroit has left potential trade partners with the impression that a “truly massive move” isn’t in the team’s plans. In other words, while the Pistons may decide to use that remaining cap space on a player who can help them this season rather than someone on an unwanted contract who would be immediately waived, they’re likely not looking to make significant changes to their roster.
- Within an item about why the Thunder probably aren’t a serious suitor for Cameron Johnson , Fischer notes that there’s plenty of “mutual fondness” between the team and forward Kenrich Williams , who is considered a strong culture-setter and probably won’t be included in a trade as simple salary filler. Williams has played a regular rotation role again this season and has been effective, with 5.8 points and 3.0 rebounds on .496/.386/.933 shooting in 13.8 minutes per game.
- After acquiring Dorian Finney-Smith from Brooklyn last month, the Lakers don’t appear likely to make a major move at the trade deadline, according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic (YouTube link ). “My sense lately, that I’ve been hearing, has been trending more toward them making a smaller move and probably using second-round draft capital,” Buha said (hat tip to Mike Chiari of Bleacher Report ). “The issue there is that their second-round draft capital isn’t really worth that much, because it’s their (2025) pick and the Clippers’ (2025) pick. And both of those picks are projected right now to be between 45 and 52, depending on where those two teams finish in the standings. So those aren’t the sexiest second-round picks. You typically want a first half of the second round-type pick.”