NBA Rumors: Pelicans Take One Player Off The Table In Any Durant Trade

The New Orleans Pelicans have been floated as one of the teams that could make an impact in the Kevin Durant trade sweepstakes, as they have a ready-made All-Star in Brandon Ingram who they could send back in a deal. Except that Ingram isn't going anywhere, according to sources.

The Pelicans are unwilling to include Brandon Ingram in a trade for Kevin Durant, league per https://t.co/VkatKRyY6a

(h/t @HoopsRumors ) pic.twitter.com/aY4X8YIpdH

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) August 16, 2022

Christian Clark of NOLA.com reports that the Pelicans are "unwilling" to include Ingram in a trade for Durant—or anyone else.

There are plenty of reasons why the Pels would not want to trade Ingram for Durant, not the least of which, notes Clark, is the fact that Ingram is nine years younger and makes $15M/year less than the Brooklyn Nets' disgruntled superstar.

Then, of course, there's the 'disgruntled' part that the Pelicans probably don't want to introduce into their interesting, burgeoning mix of young stars. 

In addition, the Pelicans have yet to really see how their two cornerstone pieces, Ingram and Zion Williamson gel together. The two have only been on the court at the same time for 81 games over the past three seasons (largely because that's about as many games as Zion has played over that period). The team really wants to see what it has in that pairing. 

Should be a very interesting season in New Orleans. It just isn't very likely to include Kevin Durant. 

Photos: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports, Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports