After a miserable Game 4, the Utah Jazz should take Brandon Ingram off of their lists

There was a big part of me that thought Brandon Ingram would be a good fit next to Laurir Markkanen in Utah. He's long, a great three-tier shooter, a respectable defender, and an all-around good player. He's what I would call a three-first type of guy. As in you got to bring three first-round draft picks to the table just to start negotiating. At 26, he'd fit perfectly with what the Jazz are trying to do long-term and overall, he's a good piece.

And then he goes and has that game. Against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Ingram disappeared. He let his team, the New Orleans Pelicans, down. As the best player on the court for them, he did everything possible to disappear. It's not even that he didn't make an impact for the Pelicans in a game-four scenario. It's that his impact was negatively felt.

It's fine (it's not) if you don't make the team better, but at the very least don't make it worse. In a game the Pelicans needed, Ingram shot just 2-14, going 0-3 from three, and scoring just eight points. Now, to his credit, he was only -3 in the box score, and you may think "Wow, he was still negative though!" and you'd be right, but he was -12 in the game prior and -30 in the game prior to that one.

So he did improve some on defense. The series as a whole, however, was a disaster for him. He shot just 34.5% from the floor and 25% from three. He took more than 14 shots just once and made more than five just once.

Now, it was only one series, but it was the one series he needed to look every bit as good in as possible. He's no longer a top guy to trade for and his price is now, in my opinion, at best, two first-rounders and a price to match. He's proven he isn't (for right now) able to carry a team in the playoffs. No one was asking him to draft the Pelicans to a first-round win over the Thunder, but at least look good in defeat.