New Orleans Pelicans star Ingram out two weeks

New Orleans Pelicans star forward Brandon Ingram will miss at least two weeks with a left knee injury he sustained in the team's loss to the Orlando Magic on Thursday.

The Pelicans announced Friday that Ingram has been diagnosed with a bone contusion following the results of an MRI and will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

Ingram, New Orleans' second-leading scorer at 20.9 points per game, exited Thursday's 121-106 loss to the Magic early in the second half with what the team initially described as a hyperextended left knee.

Though subsequent testing showed he avoided a serious, long-term injury, Ingram still figures to miss a good portion of the Pelicans' remaining games of the regular season, which concludes April 14.

New Orleans currently sits in fifth place in the Western Conference and is trying to avoid a spot in the play-in tournament, which would contain the teams that finish between seventh and 10th. The Pelicans are just 1 1/2 games ahead of the seventh-place Phoenix Suns.

Brandon Ingram underwent an MRI after hyperextending his left knee during the third quarter of last night’s game against the Orlando Magic. The results of the MRI revealed a left knee bone contusion. Ingram will be re-evaluated in two weeks and additional updates will be…

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) March 22, 2024

Ingram, the 2019-20 NBA Most Improved Player, has been mostly healthy this season after missing significant time in each of the previous two campaigns. A left toe contusion sidelined him for 29 games last season, while various injuries limited him to 55 games in 2021-22.

The eight-year veteran is on track to average over 20 points per game for a fifth straight season and is averaging 5.1 rebounds and 5.8 assists through 63 games in 2023-24.