Brandon Ingram won the 2019-20 NBA Most Improved Player award, the league announced Monday evening. The New Orleans Pelicans forward earned 42 of 100 total first-place votes, garnering 326 total points.
Brandon Ingram Wins 2019-20 NBA Most Improved Player Award
Ingram is the first-ever Pelicans player to take home the Kia NBA Most Improved Player award. According to NBA.com, this end-of-year award is “designed to honor an up-and-coming player who has made a dramatic improvement from the previous season or seasons.”
A four-year product from Duke, Ingram edged both Bam Adebayo from the Miami Heat and Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks in the award voting. Adebayo finished in second with 295 points (38 first-place votes) while Doncic took third with 101 points (12 first-place votes).
After three somewhat disappointing years with the Los Angeles Lakers, the Lakers traded Ingram to the Pelicans as part of the Anthony Davis deal.
In his first season with New Orleans, the 22-year-old earned his first-ever All-Star appearance, putting up a staunch stat line prior to the league’s stoppage in March. Ahead of the league hiatus, Ingram averaged 24.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1 steal in 56 games.
Ingram continued to shine in the NBA Disney bubble. Through eight “seeding games,” Ingram ranked 27th in the NBA in scoring at 19.8 points per game.
Through 62 total regular season contents, Ingram led the Pelicans in scoring. He averaged 23.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists per game. The forward scored efficiently, shooting 46.3 percent from the field and close to 40 percent from deep.
In his last year with the Lakers, Ingram averaged 18.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.0 assists in 52 games.
New Orleans hopes to take home more awards with its young cast of talent. Zion Williamson was also named a finalist for the Kia NBA Rookie of the Year award. Chris Paul owns the Pelicans’ only other end-of-season award when he took home Rookie of the Year in 2005.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
