Duke’s Brandon Ingram is the consensus favorite to be selected with the Los Angeles Lakers’ second overall pick in the NBA Draft on Thursday. There is still a possibility that the Philadelphia 76ers scoop up Ingram with the first overall pick, but they appear to be completely locked-in on LSU’s Ben Simmons.
Fortunately, this may be exactly what the Lakers are hoping for. A recent report indicated that Los Angeles would select Ingram over Simmons if they had the first overall pick, believing that Ingram’s fit with their core gives him an edge.
There is certainly no disputing the fact that Ingram is an intriguing talent, and ESPN’s recent Sport Science video does a great job of breaking down exactly why he has the Lakers’ so excited.
Of note, Sport Science mentions that the 6’9″ Ingram’s wingspan, which measures 7’3,” is so massive that it puts his reach on par with center Andre Drummond of the Detroit Pistons. Even more impressive, Sport Science calculates that Ingram’s length, combined with his leaping ability, gives him a larger defensive range than the lanky limbs of Kevin Durant.
They also put Ingram into a contraption known as a “phone booth,” which mimics shooting with defensive pressure by limiting space and significantly restricting vision. Even with this daunting obstacle, Ingram shot an impressive 70 percent on 20-foot jumpers. With his high-release and ability to hit contested shots, Ingram could become a deadly scorer at the NBA level.
To drive home this point, Sport Science clocked the speed of Ingram’s release and found that it is only 20 milliseconds slower than that of three-point contest champion Klay Thompson. Of course, all these impressive physical measurements don’t necessarily equate to a star basketball player, but given everything else that we know about Brandon Ingram it appears that the Lakers could be getting a very special player on June 23rd.