The New Orleans Pelicans are believed to be seeking a center as part of their return in a Brandon Ingram trade, but sources say the Atlanta Hawks didn’t have interest in acquiring him as part of the Dejounte Murray trade despite their surplus at the position in Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu, sources tell William Guillory of The Athletic.
Ingram and the Pelicans appeared to be heading down a trade when it was made clear by the front office that they weren’t interested in signing him to a four-year, $208 million max extension. Both Ingram and the Pelicans have interest in continuing their partnership, but both sides appear to have very different ideas of what his next contract will look like.
Most of the teams that could use a player with Ingram’s skill-set are tanking, while the financial implications for teams like the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers make a trade challenging. The Cleveland Cavaliers are another logical candidate, especially since Jarrett Allen could eventually be deemed expendable, but they want to see how the existing core responds to Kenny Atkinson as head coach.
Without a logical trade destination, the Pelicans and Ingram could be stuck with each other and a compromise on the contract could eventually be reached.
“There’s some optimism within the building that the two sides could come to terms on a deal that makes each happy,” writes Guillory. “Both the Pelicans and Ingram agree that going into training camp without an extension is a distraction they’d prefer to avoid.”