'Inside the NBA' Crew Ranks New Orleans Pelicans Star Top 50 Entering Season

The New Orleans Pelicans stars continue to rake in the accolades, with the Inside the NBA crew ranking their star forward top 50 ahead of the season.

Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

We now sit just five days away from the New Orleans Pelicans tipping off their 2024-25 regular season against the Chicago Bulls at the Smoothie King Center, and the player power rankings continue to pour in.

With the team claiming three players in ESPN's top 50 NBA players entering the season, another outlet has now started to release their own power rankings, and their ratings may hold just a little more gravitas considering their history.

A recent article from Bleacher Report lists the first 30 players inside the top 50 for this particular power ranking, a list made by the Inside the NBA crew, Shaquille O'Neill, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith.

The first Pelicans' representative on the list is the polarizing star forward, Brandon Ingram, who ranks 45th on the list.

Ingram's numbers took a hit last year, with Zion Williamson staying healthy enough to play in a career-high 70 games, meaning that the offense did not run through Ingram as much as it has in years past.

Across his first four seasons with the Pelicans, Ingram carried a 28.9 percent usage rate, which saw him put up 23.7 points and 5.0 assists in 34.1 minutes across 223 games.

Last year, Ingram's usage dropped to 27.2 percent, seeing his points total drop to 20.8, though his assists saw an increase to 5.7 in 32.9 minutes across 64 games.

While many may be expecting more of the same in the coming year with Williamson seemingly in the best shape of his life, not so fast my friends.

New Orleans added a true point guard to the roster in the offseason with the acquisition of Dejounte Murray from the Atlanta Hawks.

Having a true point guard on the roster will help Ingram focus more on his own scoring opportunities and less on facilitating for the offense, leaving him time to get himself open off the ball while Murray works his magic to find the open man.

It is also a contract year for the forwards, the second one of his tenure with the Pelicans, and he played some of the best ball of his career in the first.

In the 2019-20 campaign, Ingram tallied 23.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 4.2 assists in 33.9 minutes across 62 games.

It was enough for the forward to earn his first All-Star nod, the only one thus far, as well as earning him a Most Improved Player Award.

While he has still been good enough to keep out of "Most Improved" talks, the addition of Murray as well as Ingram's talent playing up in a contract year could see the forward earn another All-Star nod as he helps lead this team to another playoff run.