Lakers' Ingram: 'I like the pressure that's on me'
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — As if Brandon Ingram‘s slight frame needed any more weight on its shoulders, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft learned on Tuesday that he will be taking over Kobe Bryant’s former practice locker.
Talk about pressure.
“I saw where my locker was, and I definitely knew it was Kobe’s locker,” Ingram said at his introductory news conference on Tuesday at the Lakers‘ training facility in El Segundo. “I know Mitch told me I had some big shoes to fill when I came in here, but I liked it. I like the pressure that’s on me right now. It’s going to motivate me to do good things on the court. It’s all good pressure for me.”
Ivica Zubac, the Lakers’ selection with the No. 32 overall pick in the draft, was introduced alongside Ingram, and was asked if he was jealous that Ingram got to inherit Bryant’s locker, as Zubac was a diehard Bryant and Lakers fan growing up.
Zubac laughed and bellowed, “No, he can have that pressure.”
That pressure will form the public’s expectations of Ingram this season. As the No. 2 overall pick, he will face a level of competition and scrutiny he has never dealt with. Factor in the Lakers’ storied history, and the fan base’s growing impatience, and the expectations intensify to levels unfair for any 18-year-old.
But like Bryant before him, Ingram plans on proving his doubters and skeptics wrong.
While some top draft picks are gifted a spot in the starting lineup or a set number of minutes, Ingram will have to fend off Luol Deng, a 12-year veteran and fellow Duke Blue Devil who the Lakers reportedly signed to a four-year, $72 million deal in free agency, for the team’s starting small forward spot and minutes in the rotation.
Yet Ingram claims he isn’t intimidated by the challenge. He plans on winning that battle while simultaneously learning and growing under Deng’s guidance and wisdom.
“I haven’t talked to him yet, but I plan to pick his brain on different things,” Ingram said. “He’s been in this league for a very long time. I hear nothing but good things about him. In practice, I plan on competing against him each and every day. It’s up to the coaches who starts.”
If Ingram can’t outperform Deng and earn his way into the starting lineup, he will obviously be upset. At the end of the day, though, he’ll do whatever new head coach Luke Walton asks of him, including accepting a bench role or fewer minutes.
“Of course, from my competitive side it matters to me,” Ingram said. “But if I have to be a reserve, I’ll be coachable enough to do whatever the coach tells me to do.”
Coachability was Ingram’s key talking point on Tuesday — he’s open to just about anything, it seems, as long as Walton suggests or supports it.
At the same time, Ingram is self aware and comfortable with his identity, and knows what he brings to the Lakers. He’s a scorer, first and foremost, and he believes he won’t have many issues scoring at the next level.
“I saw where my locker was, and I definitely knew it was Kobe’s locker. I know Mitch [Kupchak] told me I had some big shoes to fill when I came in here, but I liked it.”
Brandon Ingram
“I think if you can score the ball, you can play at any level,” Ingram said. “I don’t think it’s a big adjustment for me. Just playing against stronger guys, I know I have to adjust a little bit like I did at the college level.”
Ingram’s ability to score will first be on display at the Las Vegas Summer League, which begins on Friday, July 8, at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center. There, Ingram will get a chance to show the NBA world how he fits alongside teammate D’Angelo Russell in Walton’s new up-tempo system, and how his rookie season might play out.
Ingram’s height (6-foot-10), weight (196 pounds), skill set and body type have famously drawn comparisons to another slender scoring wing — new Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant — and Ingram couldn’t escape another question regarding whether he sees the comparison between himself and a young Durant.
“Of course, because of the body type,” Ingram said. “I think anybody would want to be compared to Kevin Durant. He’s a little beyond my years, but that also gives me motivation to try to reach my potential.”
Ingram’s potential remains unclear, though his ceiling is obviously high. There are countless factors that will determine how his career unfolds, most of which are impossible to project.
With that said, it appears unlikely that Ingram will succumb to the immense pressure associated with his draft selection, his similarities with Durant, or taking over the Lakers’ franchise player mantle from Bryant.
“I can only do what I do well,” Ingram said. “There is no other Kobe Bryant. So I know coming into this that I just have to be coachable. If I do whatever the coach [wants] and I make him happy, then I’m happy.”
