Over the last month the Los Angeles Lakers and all of their fans have come to witness a new Brandon Ingram. The second-year forward looks like a completely different players, attacking the basket at will and thriving in pressure situations.
The biggest change in Ingram seems to be his confidence level. He looks like a player who not only knows he belongs, but knows he’s one of the best players on the court. That is a huge step in his development, and certainly helps the Lakers as a whole.
As a matter of fact, Lakers head coach Luke Walton spoke about Ingram’s growing confidence and how it rubs off on the rest of the team, via the team’s official Twitter:
“As an organization, we’d tell you we knew this was where he was going to go. We just didn’t know when. It’s nice to see him transfer it over to games and doing it on the big stage. It definitely gives our team a little extra confidence, and he seems to be playing with a lot of confidence himself.”
Ingram has undoubtedly stepped up recently. He is now the team’s leading scorer at 16.2 points per game and has scored at least 17 points in nine of the last 11 games. It’s been even better over the last five as he is averaging 21.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 3.0 assists.
The Lakers have been looking for that next player to take the reins of the franchise ever since Kobe Bryant retired, and it is beginning to appear as though Ingram is prepared to step in those shoes. He is looking like the future star he was projected to be and the excitement surrounding him is warranted.
Hopefully his confidence can start bleeding over to the rest of the team who will increase their focus and aggression on both ends of the floor as well. That could be the difference in the Lakers proving themselves to be more of a contender than expected.
WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE DISCUSSION? CHECK OUT THE NEW LAKERSNATION FORUM CLUB