The NBA rumor mill is always churning. Even in the quietest stretches of the offseason, it never takes a night off.

With a few weeks to go before training camps tip off, Brandon Ingram's future (or lack thereof) with the New Orleans Pelicans is the latest to surface.

After no-showing voluntary workouts this week, it's fair to wonder if Ingram will finish this upcoming campaign with the Pelicans.

At the same time, it's tricky to settle on where he might go next. Ingram reportedly wants a max contract extension, but his production simply doesn't support that. Presumably, any team that might trade for him would have to either pony up or convincingly explain to Ingram and his representation why he's not worth the max.

That's a tough decision to willingly sign up for.

Still, there are a few teams that could justify the gamble. Ingram just turned 27 years old. His shot profile is far from modern, and his defense isn't where his length and athleticism suggest it should be, but he's averaged 22.5 points and 5.7 assists over the last three seasons.

In the right situation and role, he might be able to help a team advance to the next level before it even considers giving him a theoretical extension.

The teams that can realistically offer that, or some other justification for acquiring him, can be found below.

Miami Heat

The Jimmy Butler era is coming to a close for the Miami Heat. The 2024-25 campaign is the last on his current contract, and team president Pat Riley poured plenty of cold water on the idea of extending him after the 2023-24 season wrapped.

Even if Butler remains with Miami beyond the summer of 2025, it's probably fair to expect the "face of the franchise" mantle to soon pass to someone else (presumably Bam Adebayo). Butler will turn 36 prior to the start of the 2025-26 season.

All of that suggests the Heat could be in the market for a new small forward.

Now, of course, Ingram isn't on track to be the next Butler. Far from it. And Miami could reasonably talk itself into Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Tyler Herro eventually replacing their current superstar.

But adding Ingram could give those two a bit more runway. With his mid-range attack, decent playmaking and theoretical ability to switch between multiple defensive assignments, Ingram could be sort of a C+ or B- version of Butler.

If Riley and the rest of the front office can talk Ingram into signing a more reasonable new contract, he could age into a secondary playmaker role alongside Adebayo, Jaquez, Herro or whoever else might pop from the younger core.

The biggest road block here has little to do with how Ingram would fit into Miami's existing framework, though. New Orleans doesn't really need to replace Ingram with a guard. The Pelicans have those. What they don't have is a center, and the Heat obviously aren't trading Adebayo for him.

Miami's best salary-filling contracts belong to Terry Rozier, Duncan Robinson and Herro, and it'd have to combine multiple deals to get to Ingram's incoming salary.

Finding a workable trade, at least right now, is tricky.

Cleveland Cavaliers

The idea of Brandon Ingram joining the Cleveland Cavaliers seemingly went through the entire life cycle of an NBA rumor earlier this summer.

After Yahoo Sports' Jake Fischer reported that "Cleveland holds interest in Ingram," he explained that the team doesn't want to break up its core. The rumor then seemingly died within a few days.

Well, it's time to revive it.

Cleveland has two redundancies within its starting five. Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland should probably both be lead playmakers. They're also both small, so playing them together makes defense trickier and can turn the offense into something of a "your turn, my turn" affair.

Then, on the other side of the lineup, the Cavs are essentially starting two centers. Barring some rapid and dramatic development of Evan Mobley's jumper, playing him alongside Jarrett Allen can lead to a cramped offensive system with slightly less positional versatility on the other end.

Now, a trade involving the former pairing, barring New Orleans' inclusion of players other than Ingram, probably doesn't make much sense. The Pelicans already have Dejounte Murray, CJ McCollum and a bunch of wings to cram into their rotation. It'd be hard to find the right role for Garland there (and Mitchell is simply far too good to be in this discussion at all).

The Ingram-for-Allen swap, on the other hand, makes plenty of sense. Set aside Ingram's next contract for a moment (something Cleveland doesn't really have the luxury of doing, but stick with me). As far as short-term fit goes, that move would bump Mobley to his more natural position at the 5. It'd widen slashing lanes for Mitchell, Garland and Ingram.

Assuming the front office and coaching staff were able to effectively communicate with Ingram, this situation would give Ingram a role more suitable for his skill and talent level.

He would undoubtedly be behind Donovan Mitchell in the scoring hierarchy. Given Garland's age and developmental curve, Ingram might even oscillate between being the third and fourth option (depending on how well Mobley plays on a given night).

If Ingram is your best or second-best player, you probably aren't getting much farther than the Pelicans have in recent years. If he's your third- or fourth-best player, you darn well might be a contender.

San Antonio Spurs

This is another situation where Ingram would very obviously arrive as a second or third option. And it's a little easier to find logical trades, as well as reasons for an extension, with the San Antonio Spurs.

There are good salary-filler type contracts—one of which is attached to a center—for Harrison Barnes, Keldon Johnson and Zach Collins (who would likely leapfrog Yves Missi and Daniel Theis on New Orleans' depth chart the moment he arrived).

Since Victor Wembanyama is on his rookie deal and Devin Vassell signed for less than the max, San Antonio might even be able to justify slightly overpaying Ingram for the next two or three years (though talking itself into a max might still be tough).

In terms of the basketball fit, it might not be ideal, with Ingram potentially commandeering some possessions from Wemby, Vassell or Chris Paul. But it would give the Spurs a consistent 20-point-per-night scorer who'd take a little pressure off their rising star.

If there's an organization and coaching staff that might finally be able to leverage Ingram's frame toward really good defense, it might be San Antonio.

Brooklyn Nets

The thinking on this one is pretty simple.

Nic Claxton is a quality starting center, something New Orleans simply does not have right now. In fact, he might be good enough to get the Pelicans to attach some draft capital to Ingram to make this deal happen.

Spacing could be an issue for a Claxton-Zion Williamson frontcourt, but a lineup with those two, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy III and Dejounte Murray could wreak havoc on opposing offenses.

For the Brooklyn Nets, this would be about simply continuing the organizational teardown that began by trading Mikal Bridges and reacquiring control of their own 2025 first-round pick.

The Nets are in asset-accumulation mode. Turning Claxton into a pick alone would be justifiable, and they wouldn't really have to talk themselves into extending or re-signing Ingram. Having his expiring contract come off the books next summer would give them more flexibility as they build around whoever comes along in the next few drafts.

Swapping Claxton for Ingram probably wouldn't do too much to Brooklyn's 2025 draft lottery odds, either.

From December 11 to the end of the season, Brooklyn was 20-41 (the seventh-worst record in the league over that stretch). They could spend much of the coming campaign trying to unload some of the veterans from that squad, like Cameron Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Dennis Schröder.

Adding Ingram alone isn't going to lead to a ton of wins and take Brooklyn out of the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes.