The Pelicans have never been closer to tipping over to the right side of the Western Conference, with the arrival of Dejounte Murray to complete the “Big Three” composed of CJ McCollum, Zion Williamson And Brandon Ingramwithout forgetting the interesting “role players” like Jose Alvarado, Trey Murphy III And Herb Jones.
To best prepare for a season where New Orleans will be expected across the North American continent, Willie Green's group had a meeting in California to start the school year.
The entire squad had to be present except for the pivot Daniel Theiswho had previously reported his absence after playing in the Olympic Games, for what was supposed to be a gentle resumption in the form of optional training sessions, on a voluntary basis. A way also to send an image of cohesion to the rest of the NBA a little less than two months before the resumption of the regular season.
Except that a notable absence is already causing quite a stir in Louisiana, with journalist Shamit Dua revealing that Brandon Ingram may have simply skipped the replaywithout warning his frankness.
27 years old, that’s worth celebrating
For now, no official explanation has been provided by the Pelicans, and the only valid excuse to explain the absence of their major player is that September 2 coincides with… his birthday. 27 years old, that's something to celebrate! And for Brandon Ingram, whose trace was apparently found on the New York side thanks to the power of social networks, there was clearly no question of his birthday being put aside for an optional workout.
It is not certain that the controversy will go any further, since most of the players in the squad still took care to wish “BI” a happy birthday on social media.
Unless it's the lack of a contract extension that sticks in his craw, he who was hoping for a $210 million contract. To be continued, especially since this same Brandon Ingram posted this message on Instagram: ” You can't stay in environments where people don't know your true worth.. If you stay in environments where people don't recognize your value, you will reduce your qualities to the size of what they can bear.”
| Brandon Ingram | Percentage | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Party | Int | Bp | Ct | Pts |
| 2016-17 | LAL | 79 | 29 | 40.2 | 29.4 | 62.1 | 0.8 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 9.4 |
| 2017-18 | LAL | 59 | 34 | 47.0 | 39.0 | 68.1 | 1.0 | 4.4 | 5.3 | 3.9 | 2.8 | 0.8 | 2.5 | 0.7 | 16.1 |
| 2018-19 | LAL | 52 | 34 | 49.7 | 33.0 | 67.5 | 0.8 | 4.4 | 5.1 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 0.6 | 18.3 |
| 2019-20 | NOP | 62 | 34 | 46.3 | 39.1 | 85.1 | 0.8 | 5.3 | 6.1 | 4.2 | 2.9 | 1.0 | 3.1 | 0.6 | 23.8 |
| 2020-21 | NOP | 61 | 34 | 46.6 | 38.1 | 87.8 | 0.6 | 4.3 | 4.9 | 4.9 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 0.6 | 23.8 |
| 2021-22 | NOP | 55 | 34 | 46.1 | 32.7 | 82.6 | 0.6 | 5.2 | 5.8 | 5.6 | 2.2 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 0.5 | 22.7 |
| 2022-23 | NOP | 45 | 34 | 48.4 | 39.0 | 88.2 | 0.5 | 5.0 | 5.5 | 5.8 | 2.6 | 0.7 | 3.3 | 0.4 | 24.7 |
| 2023-24 | NOP | 64 | 33 | 49.2 | 35.5 | 80.1 | 0.7 | 4.4 | 5.1 | 5.7 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 2.6 | 0.6 | 20.8 |
| Total | 477 | 33 | 46.8 | 36.2 | 78.6 | 0.7 | 4.5 | 5.2 | 4.3 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 0.6 | 19.4 | |
How to read the stats? GM = Games Played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Shots Made / Shots Attempted; 3pts = 3-pointers / 3-pointers Attempted; LF = Free Throws Made / Free Throws Attempted; Off = Offensive Rebound; Def = Defensive Rebound; Tot = Total Rebounds; Pd = Assists; Fte: Personal Fouls; Int = Steals; Bp = Loose Balls; Ct: Blocks; Pts = Points.
