New Orleans Pelicans ahead Brandon Ingram (14) tries to get previous Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder heart Isaiah Hartenstein throughout an NBA common season sport on Saturday, December 7, 2024, in New Orleans. (AP Foto/Tyler Kaufman)
NEW ORLEANS — Simply when it appeared the New Orleans Pelicans have been starting to regroup after a wave of accidents, main scorer Brandon Ingram went down Saturday.
Ingram landed awkwardly on the foot of Oklahoma Metropolis’s Lu Dort early within the third quarter of Saturday night time’s 119-109 loss to the Thunder and severely twisted his left ankle.
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Ingram had missed six of the Pelicans’ 24 video games this season with an assortment of accidents, and had simply returned from tendonitis in his proper foot. He battled again on Thursday night time with 29 factors on 10-of-19 taking pictures in a 126-124 victory over Phoenix. He left Saturday’s sport with simply 5 factors on 1-of-5 taking pictures.
READ: Brandon Ingram, Pelicans squeak previous Suns to finish 9-game skid
Pelicans coach Willie Inexperienced mentioned he couldn’t shed any gentle on the severity of Ingram’s most up-to-date harm.
“No replace proper now,” Inexperienced mentioned. “It’s extraordinarily robust to see B.I. go down — adversity, as soon as once more. He had a extremely good sport coming again (towards Phoenix) and had just a few actually good practices. To see a troublesome play like that was a extremely robust break for us.”
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By a large margin, the Pelicans have been essentially the most injured staff within the NBA this season, particularly with their 5 gamers.
READ: NBA: Zion Williamson nonetheless has Brandon Ingram as wingman–for now
Pelican gamers have misplaced 117 video games because of harm within the first six weeks of the season. Zion Williamson has missed 18 of 24 video games – the majority coming after he pulled a hamstring on Nov. 11. Jose Alvarado has missed 13 video games (hamstring) and Jordan Hawkins 13 (again).
Herb Jones returned to the lineup after lacking 18 video games with a proper shoulder pressure. Dejounte Murray got here again after lacking 17 with a left hand fracture, and CJ McCollum is again after sitting out 13 video games with an adductor pressure.
Now, the Pelicans must wait on Ingram, who led the staff by averaging 23.2 factors earlier than the loss to the Thunder.