Even during the quiet of the offseason, NBA rumors keep circulating.
The latest player in the spotlight is Brandon Ingram, who missed a voluntary minicamp that the team expected him to attend.
While these details might not seem significant overall, they could indicate a rift that may only be resolved through a trade.
Fortunately for the New Orleans Pelicans (and a few other teams), there’s a potential deal that could address this situation.
Ingram appears dissatisfied with his current team, which is in need of a center, while the Cleveland Cavaliers are starting two centers. All summer, these two teams have seemed like logical trade partners, but a third team might be necessary to facilitate the deal within the salary cap.
With help from the San Antonio Spurs, here’s a trade proposal that benefits all three teams.
The Deal
Before diving into the details of why each team should consider this, let’s first look at the overall structure of the trade.
Spurs Receive: Brandon Ingram and Dean Wade
Spurs Give Up: Keldon Johnson, Zach Collins, Julian Champagnie, and a top-five-protected 2029 first-round pick
Pelicans Receive: Jarrett Allen (not tradeable until January 27, 2025), Caris LeVert, Julian Champagnie, and a top-five-protected 2029 first-round pick from San Antonio
Pelicans Give Up: Brandon Ingram, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, and a top-five-protected 2029 first-round pick
Cavaliers Receive: Keldon Johnson, Zach Collins, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, and a top-five-protected 2029 first-round pick from New Orleans
Cavaliers Give Up: Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert, and Dean Wade
As always, you can discuss the finer details of the contracts or picks involved, but the focus here is on the star players and why their moves to new teams make sense.
Spurs Speed Up the Timeline
Spurs Receive: Brandon Ingram and Dean Wade
Spurs Lose: Keldon Johnson, Zach Collins, Julian Champagnie and a top-five-protected 2029 first-round pick
The thinking here is pretty simple. If the Spurs play logical lineups this season (as opposed to the “Jeremy Sochan is a point guard” experiment that tanked the early portion of 2023-24), they could compete for a playoff spot.
San Antonio is coming off a campaign in which it was points per 100 possessions when Victor Wembanyama, Tre Jones (an actual point guard) and Devin Vassell (a decent wing) were all on the floor. And now it has Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes on the roster, who’ll make it harder to avoid more traditional alignments.
If that alone puts the Spurs in the middle of the pack, they might as well explore moves that could push them up another tier.
Ingram’s mid-range game has added to the congestion in an offense that includes Zion Williamson and CJ McCollum (though the latter has done a good job of upping his three-point volume in recent years). In San Antonio, playing alongside a generational talent who’ll force bigs outside the three-point line with his own range, Ingram’s game would be more dangerous.
Getting him without giving up Vassell would allow the Spurs to play a mostly positionless trio at the 2, 3 and 4 with Vassell, Ingram, and Barnes. Bookending that with CP3 and Wemby would give San Antonio one of the league’s more interesting starting fives.
A future draft pick and soon-to-be-25-year-old Keldon Johnson is a decent amount to give up. And having to deal with whatever Ingram’s next contract is could be tricky, but this would undoubtedly make the Spurs better immediately.
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