Brandon Ingram to have bigger trade market than Trae Young

The NBA offseason is approaching as more and more teams get bounced from the playoffs. The questions as to who will get moved in trades this summer have yet to be answered. Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young and New Orleans Pelicans star Brandon Ingram are among the biggest names who might be on new teams, though it’s far from a certainty.

The Pelicans have decisions to make with Ingram and Trey Murphy III, two wings who have contracts that are currently set to expire after next season. Ingram will turn 27 before next season and New Orleans will have to decide if it wants to shell out a big contract to keep him around.

Meanwhile, the Hawks landed the top overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. They could decide to tear down their mediocre roster and enter a full rebuild, make the draft pick to add a new, exciting player around Young or use the pick in a trade. The latter route seems to be the way they’re going, especially because tearing it all down and trading away Young may not recoup as much value as they hoped it could.

According to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, the Pelicans wing appears to be a bigger commodity on the trade market than the Hawks guard.

Fischer writes the following: “Any team and any front office, armed with draft capital and looking to improve, from Los Angeles to Brooklyn, or New Orleans and Philadelphia, or the always star-hunting Miami Heat, will be patient with any possible approach for Young, until there’s greater clarity on someone of Mitchell’s pedigree…An unofficial poll of executives in Chicago also suggests Pelicans wing Brandon Ingram will have a wider range of teams interested in acquiring the one-time All-Star, as compared to Young, should New Orleans truly explore a roster shake-up of that magnitude.”

Brandon Ingram expected to have more trade interest than Trae Young

The trade market for Ingram doesn’t appear to be bustling as of right now but teams looking to make a splash have started to be mentioned as possibilities. With Young being the Hawks’ franchise player for over half of a decade now, it won’t be any easier to pry him. But if both are truly available, it’s understandable why more teams would prefer Ingram.

While Young is the superior player to Ingram, NBA teams often prioritize fit when looking to make a big trade. Ingram, a versatile wing, appears to be a better fit with more teams than Young, a small guard who commands the ball a lot. Especially because it’s so much easier to buy Ingram as someone who can impact the game on both offense and defense while allowing the stars of a new team to keep doing their thing.

Take the Philadelphia 76ers for example. Ingram slots in very well next to Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid on the wings. Even if Young has the playmaking talent that would make life easier for both players, the Sixers may not want to mess up the hierarchy they have with Embiid and Maxey commanding the offense together. Plus, having two smaller guards in Young and Maxey on defense would require a lot to become workable.

The Los Angeles Lakers, should they be able to retain LeBron James, might also prefer to have Ingram on the wing with James still leading the offense than trying to get Young to fit next to James. Teams looking to become better would surely target Young over Ingram but the price to pay in a trade would make them more wary.

Since the Hawks and Pelicans have so many different ways to go about building their 2024-25 rosters, they will be central to many conversations about the 2024 offseason.