A former Duke basketball one-and-done continues to show off a sweet stroke.
What should come as no surprise to Duke basketball fans is the fact that one combination of stats concerning scoring efficiency and scoring quantity shows New Orleans Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram standing above all of his NBA peers at the moment.
According to a tweet from the Pelicans PR team, the All-Star forward is the only player in the league this season who has averaged more than 24 points across at least 25 appearances while shooting better than 46.5 percent from the field, 38.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 85.5 percent from the foul line.
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Impressive. Also impressive is the evidence on Wednesday evening that Ingram has not lost his touch across the more than four months since the last NBA game. The 6-foot-7, 190-pound native of Kinston, N.C., who is averaging 24.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists in his fourth year since departing the Duke basketball program, helped New Orleans seize what proved to be an insurmountable early lead in the squad’s first scrimmage in Orlando.
Despite seeing less than 11 minutes on the floor during the 99-68 beatdown of the Brooklyn Nets, the mere 22-year-old poured in an easy 12 points, coming from a 4-for-7 shooting night, including a 3-for-5 clip from downtown, plus his 1-for-1 mark from the charity stripe. Ingram also added a pair of rebounds and assists.
How other Duke basketball alums fared in the scrimmage and what’s to come
The other three Duke products who saw action for New Orleans against Brooklyn — JJ Redick, Jahlil Okafor, and Frank Jackson — all provided respectable scoring contributions as well, combining for 24 points on 9-for-18 shooting from the field. On the other side, 2010 Blue Devil national champ Lance Thomas chipped in three points, one rebound, one assist, and one block in 13 minutes after signing on with the Nets earlier this month.
New Orleans (28-36, 3.5 games out of eighth place in the West), still without its mega-hyped rookie Dukie in Zion Williamson due to his unspecified emergency family matter, will begin the final playoff push against the 41-23 Utah Jazz next Thursday at 6:30 p.m. EST on TNT.
Seven more games will follow for the Bayou Blue Devils and the 21 other squads who received invites to the bubble. Postseason play tips off on August 17 with the NBA Finals then set to begin on Sept. 30 and wrap up by Oct. 13 at the latest.
First, though, Brandon Ingram and the Pelicans are scheduled to take part in two more scrimmages: against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday at 8 p.m. Neither of those outings is on the national TV slate at the moment.
Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more on Brandon Ingram plus other news and views regarding all things Duke basketball.