To say that Brandon Ingram has been important to the New Orleans Pelicans’ success this season would be an understatement.
That’s what makes Friday’s news disheartening. New Orleans announced that the star forward suffered a left knee bone contusion during Thursday’s 121-106 loss to the Orlando Magic. He is going to be evaluated again in two weeks, meaning that New Orleans will have to go to battle without its 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 court and ready to play in two weeks. With only 13 games remaining in their regular season, this is a potentially huge blow to 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 out west.
Related: 2023-24 NBA Playoff predictions
NBA Playoff standings 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 get a top-six seed as a way to avoid the NBA Play-In Tournament. New Orleans is in that position, but it is only 1.5 games ahead of Phoenix. Sacramento (2.0), Los Angeles (5.0) and Golden State (5.5) are also within range of the Pelicans.
Interestingly enough, New Orleans heads into the post-Ingram part of its schedule also just 1.5 games behind the Clippers and home-court advantage in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs.
Related: New Orleans Pelicans standing in Sportsnaut’s NBA power rankings
How is New Orleans Pelicans schedule impacted by Brandon Ingram injury?
The Pelicans are 3-2 this season in games Ingram has missed. He missed 37 games a season ago to injury with New Orleans posting a combined 18-19 record. Needless to say, the Pelicans are accustomed to playing without their star forward.
This doesn’t change the 2023-24 dynamics.
Assuming Ingram is out for only the next two weeks, it is not going to be an easy slate 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)
Outside of the lowly Pistons, this is an absolutely brutal stretch of action for New Orleans. It is going to need the likes of Zion Williamson and C.J. McCollum to step up if the team is to avoid the play-in tournament.
As for the rest of the Western Conference, this opens up an opportunity for a team such as the Suns, Kings, Lakers or Warriors to avoid the play-in.
It’s no small thing.