The lanky frame and prolific scoring ability of Lakers rookie Brandon Ingram made him instantly comparable to Kevin Durant. It’s an incredibly high ceiling for Ingram to live up to right away, but it’s an enormous compliment to his potential as a player.
Ingram and Durant had a chance to compete at the start of Team USA training camp as Ingram was selected for the Select Team. Durant spoke on being a fan of Ingram, how he sees himself in him, and feeling like Ingram is farther along than he was at his age.
Following from Serena Winters of LakersNation.com:
“He (Brandon Ingram) reminds me of myself, but he’s a little farther along than I was at that stage,” Durant said after Team USA practice. “I feel like if you continue to keep working, he’s with a great organization that’s going to push him and put him in a good position to be who he is. Continue to just work hard and believe in himself and everything is possible for him. He’s a great player. I watched him almost every game this season. I’m a huge fan, first person I can say that I can look at him and feel like I’m looking in the mirror. I’m rooting for him.”
“He’s a little bit more fluid than I was, as far as skill-wise, a little more advanced than I was at that time. I was just running, jumping, shooting threes,” Durant continued. “But, he could put the ball on the floor, change directions, get to the rim, shoot the pull-up three, so that stuff started to come a little later on for me, but he’s a little farther along than I was.”
Durant was 210 pounds coming into the NBA. Ingram is listed just under 200 pounds. Clearly, Durant didn’t let that deter him from becoming one of the league’s best players and scorers. He hopes Ingram can have that same mentality.
“I just didn’t care what people were saying, I knew that I was a little different as a player, so I wouldn’t let that get in my way of what I wanted to do, so mentally I knew that I could play with these guys, so I didn’t let me not lifting 185 pounds, or being 210 (pounds) coming in (to the NBA), let it affect me.”
“Once you get conditioned to the NBA game, the travel, the long season, it’s just basketball after that. I’m sure they have weight trainers and chefs and all those people to make sure he’s eating right and lifting. For the most part, if you can play, you can play, and he knows how to play the game.”
For Ingram, it has to be extremely encouraging to have Durant’s support and mentorship. Durant’s career in itself is a product of proving critics wrong who might have said he needed to get much stronger to become an elite NBA player. To Durant’s point, it’s a process to simply get acclimated to the physicality of the league, which he has done. Ingram will endure that same process, and like Durant, if he focuses on developing and advancing the skills he has in place, he should be just fine.
