The Los Angeles Lakers will go head-to-head with the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday at the Staples Center in an attempt to win consecutive games. Unfortunately, the Lakers will be without one of their best players with Brandon Ingram dealing with knee tendinitis.
According to Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters, Ingram has been ruled out for tonight’s game:
Brandon Ingram is OUT tonight (patella tendinitis). Luke Walton says they're still deciding on who will start in his place.
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) March 26, 2017
Ingram, who hasn’t missed a game in his short NBA career until tonight, has come on strong as of late. The rookie forward has started to get comfortable on the floor for Luke Walton and company. Ingram’s shot is starting to fall at an efficient rate while becoming a legitimate threat to opponents offensively.
Before missing tonight’s game against the Blazers, Ingram cracked double digits in the scoring column in 10 straight games. The Duke product shot better than 50 percent in eight of those 10 games and scored 18 or more points three times in that stretch.
In 72 games this season, Ingram averaged 9.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game while shooting 39.9 percent from the floor and 29.6 from beyond the arc. Although Ingram hasn’t put up numbers worthy of recognition for the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award, the 19-year-old is starting to show why the Lakers drafted him with the second overall pick last year.
As long as the knee tendinitis doesn’t become a persistent problem in the final stretch of the 2016-17 NBA season, the Lakers rookie may continue to show progress while sparking optimism for his future in purple and gold.
After the matchup with the Blazers, the Lakers will have nine games left in the season with the majority of those games being played at home. Los Angeles will host opponents at the Staples Center five more times before the season comes to an end.
