Brandon Ingram has become just the third player in New Orleans Pelicans’ history to score a 30-point triple-double.

In achieving the feat, Ingram joins an exclusive club of Pelicans’ alumni, with the only other two players to put together a statline of this nature being Chris Paul and DeMarcus Cousins.

Ingram was dominant in the pivotal victory against the Charlotte Hornets, putting up 30 points on 10-23 shooting to go with 11 rebounds, ten assists and zero turnovers. Those numbers helped lead the Pelicans to a 115-96 victory, taking their record to 36-37.

The win sees them move half a game ahead of the Utah Jazz, but remain a game out of the play-in positions. However, that 36-37 record is shared by the surging Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks, while each of Oklahoma City Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves are just half a game ahead of that.

Evidently, that makes each of the Pelicans’ last nine games of the regular season extremely important in their hunt for a playoff spot, and Ingram will arguably be the single biggest determining factor of whether they can squeeze their way into that top ten.

Brandon Ingram has had an injury-interrupted season to date, managing just 36 games for the season. Clearly that makes it difficult to find a rhythm, but nonetheless he’s been solid for the Pelicans, averaging 23.5 points on 47.6% shooting to go with 4.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists.

And with the regular season nearing an end, he’s taken things up a notch. In his past four games, Ingram has averaged a tick under 30 points per game and scored at least 26 every night, and Thursday night’s effort is the latest in what is becoming an important vein of form for the Pelicans’ forward.