Short on healthy bodies and with just two games remaining in their season, the Los Angeles Lakers signed Andre Ingram from their South Bay affiliate of the G League. Having spent a decade in the developmental league, Ingram’s story made national headlines.
It was a positive boost on what had been a rocky close to the season for the Lakers. Ingram then added to his legend by scoring 19 points in his debut, which was good for highest-scoring first career game by a Lakers player since Nick Van Exel had 23 points in 1993.
Ingram additionally set a record by draining four 3-pointers, marking the most by a Lakers rookie in his debut. He hoped to parlay his two-game stint into a contract with an NBA team for the following season, but returned to South Bay.
That changed when the Lakers signed the 33-year-old to a 10-day contract before beginning a five-game road trip. With that now expiring, Ingram compared his second stint with the team to his NBA debut, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I just said to someone, it’s (been) enjoyable. Last year, the two days, it was so fast and such a blur that during it, everyone was like, ‘Look, soak it in. Enjoy the moment.’ And I tried, I just couldn’t. Everything happened so fast. With this, I was able to get some camaraderie with the guys, feel their love, get to know them, participate in different things we did on the road with each other. I had more time with the team, and it was an enjoyable experience. This time, I was able to take it all in and kind of soak up everything.”
Ingram played sparingly as he appeared in four games with the Lakers. He missed all six shot attempts, including three 3-pointers.
The Lakers could have signed Ingram to a second 10-day contract and/or for the remainder of the season as his current deal is set to expire. However, the team reportedly will instead ink Scott Machado to give him an opportunity.