Tuesday 1 September 2020 09:46, UK
New Orleans Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram was named the NBA's Most Improved Player on Monday.
A first-time NBA All-Star selection in his fourth season, the 22-year-old Ingram becomes the first player to win the Most Improved Player Award with New Orleans. The annual award is designed to honour an up-and-coming player who has made a dramatic improvement from the previous season or seasons.
Ingram received 42 first-place votes from a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters and earned 326 total points. He edged Miami Heat center-forward Bam Adebayo, who finished in second place with 295 points (38 first-place votes). Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić finished in third place with 101 points (12 first-place votes).
Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote. The voting was conducted based on regular-season games played through March 11. The seeding games, which were played July 30- August 14 as part of the season restart, did not count toward voting.
From the beginning of the season through March 11, Ingram averaged 24.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.0 steal in 34.3 minutes in 56 games. He was one of seven players to average at least 24.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.0 steal, joining fellow 2020 NBA All-Stars Doncic (Dallas Mavericks), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks), James Harden and Russell Westbrook (both Houston Rockets), LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers) and Kawhi Leonard (LA Clippers).
Ingram made 137 three-pointers in games played through March 11, which is more than he recorded in his first three seasons combined (127). He improved significantly at the free throw line, raising his accuracy to 85.8 per cent this season (through March 11) from 66.2 per cent across his first three seasons.
Through March 11 this season, Ingram ranked 13th in the NBA in scoring average and posted the first two games of at least 40 points in his career, highlighted by a 49-point performance against the Utah Jazz on January 16. He scored at least 30 points 11 times after totalling four 30-point games across his first three seasons.
One of those 30-point efforts this season came during Week 10 (December 23-29, 2019), when he was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for the first time in his career.
During the presentation of the award, Ingram recalled the blood clotting issues he dealt with that cut his 2018-19 season short with the Lakers.
"First I want to say to God be the glory, without him I wouldn't be healthy," he said. "I wouldn't have had the chance to get back on the basketball court. It goes back to last March, me getting injured and being able to get back on the court until September. That was very little time to come into and start preseason and start the regular season. I was ready for it."
