New Orleans Pelicans: 2019-20 NBA season preview

Storyline 2: Ingram, Ball arrive with plenty to prove

Between 2015-17, the Los Angeles Lakers picked No. 2 overall in the NBA Draft each year. Two of those three picks, Brandon Ingram (2016) and Lonzo Ball (2017) came to the New Orleans Pelicans in July as part of the return in the Anthony Davis trade.

Both players come in with lots to prove in terms of both health and performance.

Ingram played in 79 games as a rookie, but has missed substantial time each of the last two seasons. In 2017-18, Ingram sat out 23 games with ankle, knee and hip problems before he was shut down for the final two weeks with a concussion.

Last season, he missed a couple of weeks in December with an ankle sprain before he was shut down in early March with a blood clot in his right arm, playing in just 52 games.

He was productive when he was available last season, averaging a career-best 18.3 points to go with 5.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 33.8 minutes per game, while shooting a career-high 49.7 percent overall.

But his 3-point shooting cratered from 39.0 percent to 33.0 percent on the same number of attempts (1.8) per game and he’s still a sub-70 percent shooter from the line, where he spends significant time, averaging 5.6 attempts per game in 2018-19.

Ingram is entering the fourth year of his rookie deal who, unless the Pelicans sign him to an extension before Oct. 21, will become a restricted free agent next July.

Still very thin at 6’9” and 190 pounds, Ingram hasn’t been able to stand up to the pounding that came with starter’s minutes the last two seasons. For a guy looking for a big second contract, that’s a concern.

As for Ball, he’s been neither healthy (65 missed games in his first two seasons) nor productive (38 percent shooting overall, 43.7 percent from the line in his first two seasons) since his much-hyped arrival to the Lakers out of UCLA in 2017.

The Pelicans have yet to decide on Ball’s fourth-year option for 2020-21 (spoiler alert: they’ll exercise it), but Ball appears to have made some progress in cleaning up his funky release point on his jumper this summer.

He’s already a top-flight defender at the point guard spot and posted an assist rate of 29.2 percent as a rookie before it dropped back to 23.8 percent last season (an effect of having the facilitating LeBron James as a teammate).

If Ball is both healthy and productive, the Pelicans could have a nightmarish backcourt to go up against defensively alongside All-Defensive selection Jrue Holiday.

The trade gives both Ingram and Ball a fresh start and a chance to turn their careers in the right direction. It’s up to them to seize that chance.