NEW YORK – New Orleans Pelicans striker Brandon Ingram has been named Kia NBA Most Improved Player 2019-20, the NBA announced today.
For the first time in the NBA All-Star selection in his fourth season, 22-year-old Ingram becomes the first player to win the Kia NBA Most Improved Player Award with New Orleans. The annual award is designed to honor an emerging player who has achieved a noticeable improvement over the previous season or seasons.
Ingram received 42 number one votes from a global panel of 100 sports journalists and broadcasters and earned 326 total points. He beat Miami Heat center forward Bam Adebayo, who finished in second place with 295 points (38 votes in first place). Luka Dončić, guard of the Dallas Mavericks, finished in third place with 101 points (12 votes in first place).
Players were awarded five points for each vote for first place, three points for each vote for second place and one point for each vote for third place. The voting was conducted on the basis of the regular season games played up to 11 March. The seeding matches, which were played from 30 July to 30 August. 14 as part of the reboot of the season, it did not count towards the vote for the Kia NBA Most Improved Player Award or the championship’s other traditional end-of-season awards.
From the start of the season to March 11, Ingram averaged 24.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.0 steals 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 steals, joining NBA 2020 All-Stars mate Dončić, Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden and Russell Westbrook of the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers ‘LeBron James and LA Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard.
Ingram scored 137 triples in matches played through March 11, which is more than he recorded in his first three combined seasons (127). He has improved significantly on the free throw line, increasing his accuracy to 85.8% this season (through March 11) from 66.2% in his first three seasons.
Through March 11 of this season, Ingram was ranked 13th in the NBA in average scores and recorded his first two games of at least 40 career points, highlighted by a 49-point performance against the Utah Jazz on January 16. He scored at least 30 points 11 times after scoring four 30-point games in his first three seasons. One of those 30 points this season came during week 10 (December 23-29, 2019), when he was named NBA Western Conference Player of the Week for the first time in his career.
Ingram, who will turn 23 on September 2, was selected as a reserve for the 2020 NBA All-Star Game in his first season with New Orleans. The Pelicans acquired him on July 6, 2019 from the Lakers as part of a three-team swap that also included the Washington Wizards. Ingram, who was selected from Los Angeles with the No. 2 overall in the 2016 NBA Draft presented by State Farm, he averaged 18.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 0.54 steals in 33.8 minutes in 52 games with the Lakers. last season.
Below are the voting results for the 2019-20 Kia NBA Most Improved Player Award. The vote was tabulated by the independent accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP. Full ballots for each voter will be posted on pr.nba.com after all end-of-season awards are announced.
