Brandon Ingram Leaves Excel Sports
Detailed breakdown on the current situation and next steps
On Sunday, November 24, Will Guillory and Kelly Iko of the Athletic reported that Brandon Ingram was leaving his agency, Excel Sports. Ingram was repped primarily by Jeff Schwartz. Ingram and his contract status has been a long standing discussion that was seeing little progress.
Here is what the Media has to say:
”Sources told ESPN the two sides can't agree on a contract extension and trade talks since last summer have failed to align. Finding a place where New Orleans can send Ingram's $36 million salary and get value while also reducing salary -- the Pelicans are currently in the luxury tax for the first time ever and not likely to stay there -- is hard enough. But finding a deal with a team Ingram will be comfortable signing a new contract with has also stalled talks, per sources.” - Brian Windhorst, ESPN
Here is my take:
First thing is first, it has been communicated to me by various league sources that the expectation is for Brandon Ingram to sign with Klutch Sports after his 15 day waiting period is over. Zion Williamson, who also left CAA recently, is not expected to follow in Ingram's footsteps and go to Klutch.
Now that is out of the way, there are a few major topics to touch upon. Let's begin with the “why". Why does Ingram seek new representation? After a summer where Ingram was pubicly shopped, his agency was not able to land him the extension he desired, nor place him on a team that would a) be willing pay him b) Ingram would want to play on.
It is likely due to these perceived failures that Ingram is seeking different representation - particularly with an agency notorious for pulling out all the stops for their clients.
I want highlight one particular sentence from Windhorst, which is easy to overlook.
“But finding a deal with a team that Ingram is comfortable signing a new contract with has also stalled talks, per sources."
The direct implication here is there exists a team or teams that would be willing to pay Ingram but Ingram does not want to play there. To my understanding, this is true.
Multiple league sources have relayed to me that the Pelicans and Jazz were deep in talks which were shut down by Ingram's lack of desire to re-sign in Salt Lake City.
This is important info, because it highlights that money is not presumably everything for Ingram. I do think it was in his best interests to just take the money, however. The cap landscape for next summer is a harsh one. Only the Brooklyn Nets project to have signficiant cap space, which will undoubtedly limit the number of Ingram suitors at the dollar figure he is seeking.
Nonetheless, either Ingram just doesn't want any part of Utah, or feels he can get comparable money in a better situation. This part remains to be seen and is what Klutch will be asked to tackle.
I expect the Ingram situation to get “messy” in a public fashion. It is entirely possible that Klutch and David Griffin can work together to find an amicable solution, but my guess is that the mess will spur action in a situation that has been quite stale for months. For this reason, I don't believe Ingram going this route is necessarily a bad thing.
The Pelicans have long needed to rip the band-aid off and this may finally be the catalyst. Regrettably, this is somewhat of a self created issue for the Pelicans. As readers of this substack know, we here have long called out the dangers of holding onto Ingram as he entered the final year of his contract. Players of his stature always have some degree of control with their threat of walking at the conclusion of the deal. The Pelicans experienced this first hand with regards to Utah.
Due to these culminating factors, I think the Pelicans won't find a robust return in any Ingram trade. Here are the key things I think they should seek to accomplish in any deal:
Tax relief, both current and future. The Pelicans are over the tax at the moment and can't afford take on large long term contracts that will cause recurring tax issues.
An intriguing young prospect. I am doubtful that premium draft capital will be on the table, but I do beleive some teams might be willing to part with a singular young player. The Pelicans need to indentify the young player worth pursuing. For example, could the Pistons offer salary and Ausar Thompson?
Replenishing of second round picks. Where firsts can't be obtained, the Pelicans need to ask for seconds. As many as possible.
Offensive minded players. The Pelicans need to continue to add offensively minded players to the roster to make everyone's job easier. This ideally needs to be on the perimeter in the form of shooting or creation, or both!
None of this is ideal, but the window for ideal is long gone. The Pelicans will need to make most of the coming situation and it will require a proactive approach. How they handle the turns to come will likely drive how they need to handle any potential CJ or Zion trades in the future as well.