Two months after injuring his big toe, New Orleans Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram is expected to return to the lineup on Wednesday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to The Athletic.
"I didn't think it would take this long," Ingram said after practice Tuesday. "But I had to listen to my body before I got back on the floor with my teammates and before I got back to playing basketball."
Ingram added: "I feel like I'm a fresher body than everybody else. Everybody beat up. I've just had a chance to let my body rest for a little bit and come back off of injury."
In late December, Ingram said that he would be back on the floor when he feels like himself again. On Tuesday, he said he is "still fighting through some things, but it's tolerable right now and I'm able to do some things effectively," adding that there has been "a little bit of confusion, a lot of patience in this process of trying to get back to where I'm 100 percent and can really, really push off and be who I am."
Initially, the Pelicans thrived without Ingram, largely because Zion Williamson playing at an All-NBA level. Williamson is out with a hamstring injury, though, and they've lost eight of their last 10 games. At 26-22, New Orleans is fourth in the jumbled-up Western Conference, two games behind the third-place Sacramento Kings and four games ahead of the 13th-place Los Angeles Lakers.
In 15 games before the injury, Ingram averaged 20.8 points on a career-high 59 percent true shooting, plus 5.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists in 32.1 minutes.
