To say that Brandon Ingram has played a significant role in the New Orleans Pelicans’ success this season would be an understatement.
That’s what makes Friday’s news discouraging. New Orleans announced that the star forward suffered a contusion to his left knee during Thursday’s 121-106 loss to the Orlando Magic. He will be evaluated again in two weeks, meaning New Orleans will have to struggle without their star forward for the foreseeable future.
As we’ve seen with other players, the re-evaluation process doesn’t necessarily mean Ingram will be back on the field and ready to play in two weeks. With only 13 games left in the regular season, this is a potentially big blow for the upstart Pelicans.
- Brandon Ingram stats (2023-24): 20.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 5.8 APG, 49% shooting
New Orleans heads into Friday’s game against the Miami Heat at 32-27 and as the fifth seed in the Western Conference. However, things are extremely tight beyond the top three seeds in the West.
Related: 2023-24 NBA Playoff Predictions
NBA Playoffs rankings and Brandon Ingram injury
4. Los Angeles Clippers (43-25)
5. New Orleans Pelicans (42-27)
6. Dallas Mavericks (41-29)
7. Phoenix Suns (41-29)
8. Sacramento Kings (40-29)
9. Los Angeles Lakers (37-32)
10. Golden State Warriors (36-32)
Teams are obviously looking to place in the top six in order to avoid the NBA Play-In tournament. New Orleans is in this position, but they are only 1.5 games ahead of Phoenix. Sacramento (2.0), Los Angeles (5.0) and Golden State (5.5) are also within reach of the Pelicans.
Interestingly enough, New Orleans heads into the post-Ingram portion of its schedule also just 1.5 games behind the Clippers and with home-court advantage in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
Related: New Orleans Pelicans Featured in Sportsnaut’s NBA Power Rankings
How is the New Orleans Pelicans schedule affected by Brandon Ingram’s injury?
The Pelicans are 3-2 this season in games missed by Ingram. He missed 37 games a season ago due to injury, with New Orleans posting a combined record of 18-19. Needless to say, the Pelicans are used to playing without their star forward.
This does not change the 2023-24 dynamic.
Assuming Ingram is only out for the next two weeks, this won’t be an easy task for the Pelicans.
- @ Miami Heat (38-31)
- @ Detroit Pistons (12-57)
- Oklahoma City Thunder (48-20)
- Milwaukee Bucks (45-25)
- Boston Celtics (55-14)
- Phoenix Suns (41-29)
- Orlando Magic (42-28)
Aside from the lowly Pistons, this is an absolutely brutal action sequence for New Orleans. Zion Williamson and CJ McCollum will need to step up their efforts if the team wants to avoid the play-in tournament.
As with the rest of the Western Conference, this opens an opportunity for a team like the Suns, Kings, Lakers or Warriors to avoid play-in.
It’s not nothing.
