NBA Rumors: Hawks Could Acquire Brandon Ingram For John Collins And Draft Picks, Per ‘Bleacher Report’
Having finished 14th in the Eastern Conference with a 20-47 record, the Atlanta Hawks are still in the middle of a rebuilding process that has seen it draft a pair of up-and-coming superstars in Trae Young and John Collins and trade for former Houston Rockets center Clint Capela. With the team’s lack of proven performers at the wing positions in mind, a recent report suggested that they could acquire New Orleans Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram for a trade package centered on Collins.
As explained by Bleacher Report‘s Zach Buckley in a new list of offseason trade ideas for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, the Hawks are a team in need of a wingman who could speed up the rebuilding process. Such a player, he added, could also complement Young on offense while picking up the slack when the star point guard is on the bench. According to Buckley, Ingram ticks both boxes as a first-time All-Star who is in the middle of a career-best season.
As Ingram will be eligible to enter restricted free agency in the 2020 offseason, Buckley speculated that New Orleans might choose to offer him a maximum contract in order to keep him for the long term. However, he opined that the Hawks have “nothing to lose” by offering that same max contract and hoping the Pelicans would agree to a sign-and-trade, with Collins ideally getting sent to New Orleans along with some future draft picks.
A former No. 2 overall draft pick who starred in college for the Duke Blue Devils, Ingram joined the Pelicans in the summer of 2019 in the deal that sent Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers. This season, he has recorded averages of 24.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists while shooting 46.6 percent from the field and 38.7 percent from three-point range, according to his Basketball-Reference player page.
Much like Ingram, Collins has also posted mostly career-high numbers in his third season with Atlanta as the team’s starting power forward. The former first-round pick out of Wake Forest played in 41 games in the 2019-20 campaign, with averages of 21.6 points, 10.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.6 blocks and a 58.3 percent shooting clip from the field, per Basketball-Reference.
Ingram isn’t the only wingman who has been mentioned recently as a potential acquisition for Atlanta. As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Golden State Warriors small forward Andrew Wiggins was brought up earlier this week as an “under-the-radar” target who could also serve as a secondary scoring option while playing alongside Young in the starting lineup.
