While the Los Angeles Lakers went through years of a rebuild, only a few faces remain from the down seasons. Brandon Ingram and Ivica Zubac, both selected in the 2016 NBA Draft, reside as the franchise’s longest-tenured players.
Ingram factors prominently in games for the Lakers on a nightly basis, while Zubac is working to rebound from a subpar sophomore season. By gutting out a 107-106 victory over the Atlanta Hawks, L.A. extended their winning streak to three games and improved to 7-6 on the young season.
It was also the Lakers’ fifth win in the last six games, which is helping erase the bad taste of a 2-5 start. Perhaps more notably, however, they are above .500 for the first time since Nov. 22, 2016.
Ingram had 11 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists in the 111-109 victory that improved the Lakers to 8-7. “It’s good to win. It’s good to finally have a winning attitude,” Ingram said of surpassing the break-even mark for the first time since his rookie season.
“We just want to continue to keep going, continue to be confident, continue to get better.”
The winning record is a first for the likes of Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and Kyle Kuzma, who along with Ingram make up the Lakers’ young core. While there was excitement in notching a close win against the Hawks, Hart kept a business-like view.
“It’s just another win in our journey,” he said.
Though he is a NBA champion and veteran in the league, Tyson Chandler, one of the heroes on Sunday night, hasn’t been with a team that finished a season above .500 since the 2014-15 season. It perhaps fueled his outward display of jubilation after a game-winning block.
“I still get excited by every single win,” he said. “Especially with this team, a group of incredible guys, a mixture of veterans that I’ve competed against my entire career and then young guys that I’m growing to appreciate.”
