The New Orleans Pelicans have struggled mightily to open up the 2024-25 NBA season and recently got yet another injury blow when it was revealed that Brandon Ingram will miss extensive time with an ankle injury. New Orleans has already had by far the worst injury luck in the NBA this year and is still awaiting the return of Zion Williamson from an injury absence of his own, currently sitting at 5-20.
When he has been in the lineup, Ingram has been putting up numbers, averaging over 22 points on 46.5 percent shooting from the field so far this year. However, that didn't stop one fan from recently taking to X, formerly Twitter, to criticize the forward.
“Brandon Ingram is the modern day Carmelo Anthony. He puts up points somewhat efficiently but it rarely leads to wins,” wrote the user.
One person who wasn't a huge fan of that comparison was Carmelo Anthony himself:
https://x.com/carmeloanthony/status/1866384781057114525
Anthony indeed fit the bill of a volume scorer whose isolation-heavy play style rarely led to great team success, although it should be noted that his prime years intersected with those of Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, making it difficult for any teams to advance very far in the playoffs in either conference.
Can the Pelicans save their season?
New Orleans Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram (14) dribbles against Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort (5) during the first half at Smoothie King Center.
Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images
While the season is only just over a fourth of the way complete, the Pelicans have already dug themselves quite the whole in an unforgiving Western Conference playoff picture.
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15 games under .500 is probably not where the New Orleans front office envisioned themselves being after making an all-in move this summer by trading Dyson Daniels, Larry Nance Jr., and two first round picks for former Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray.
Murray just recently returned from a hand fracture that he suffered on the first day of the season and is still looking to recapture the All-Star version of himself that last showed up when he was a member of the San Antonio Spurs.
Injuries were always going to be a concern with a team led by Zion Williamson, but it's safe to say that even the most pessimistic Pelicans fan wouldn't have anticipated luck this bad this early into the season.
In any case, the Pelicans will next hit the floor on Thursday evening at home against the Sacramento Kings in a rematch of last year's play-in game between the two teams. That game is slated to tip off at 8:00 PM ET from the Smoothie King Center.