In Los Angeles, Ingram has struggled from deep, sometimes peculiarly. NBA.com has tracked Ingram’s three-point shooting at a puzzling 26.2% when wide open compared to 33.3% with a defender less than 2 feet away. “I know my percentages will go up. It’s really just getting in a rhythm,” Ingram said. “It’s been looking good outside of the games in practice.”
Perhaps those struggles are a product of his role. Catch-and-shoot situations represent only 25.4% of Ingram’s attempts, where as a player like Paul George—who Ingram is often compared to—utilizes 32.6% of his respective shots as catch-and-shoot opportunities on a far higher usage rate. Even with his 6’9″ frame, Ingram has largely manned the point for Lakers bench units, deferring to Clarkson and Lou Williams. “The positions that they’ve put him into, I think he’s responded very well,” Williams said. But it begs the question, have the Lakers yet truly placed Ingram in an optimal role?
Of late, the L.A. staff has encouraged him to play with an increased aggression, hunting more shots. It’s a mindset Ingram will likely have to employ to one-day become a go-to scorer alongside point guard D’Angelo Russell, who’s lingering left knee injury has provided Ingram opportunities to start. Or perhaps, Walton’s Ingram-at-point-guard experiments are preparing him for a future share of the Lakers’ lead ball–handling duties with Russell, similar to how the Toronto Raptors feature both Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. Regardless, answering the call to assert himself more will require flipping the switch Stackhouse first before Ingram’s senior year of high school.
The recently retired Stackhouse had returned home to work out with his star pupil. He bullied Ingram in the post, utilizing his power and strength. On one possession, Stackhouse gripped Ingram’s arm with his offhand, preparing a bulldoze towards the rim. “I mean literally we was there probably 30 seconds when we were playing pickup ball, and he didn’t do anything,” Stackhouse recalled. “It was just to the point like, ‘Man, if you don’t get my hand off of you! You can not let anybody, me or anybody else, hold you like this.’ And that was one of those moments where the light flicked on and it’s like ‘Ok, you’re not gonna out-physical me.’”
The subsequent play, a crossover and a shoulder into Stackhouse’s chest later, Ingram finished at the rim with ease. “He was really going at me. And I was like, ‘Ok!’ This isn’t the same kid,” Stackhouse said. The following year, after dispatching Yale to advance to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament, Ingram told SI.com: “I can battle anybody in the country. Anybody that goes out on the floor, I’m trying to attack them and I’m trying to make a name off of them.”
His Duke teammates sometimes doubled as spectators, watching in awe at his glides to the rim. “He’s a guard, a big man, a shot blocker, a defender, a stopper,” said Duke sophomore guard Luke Kennard. Ingram excelled in a playmaking role at Duke similar to how Walton has utilized his diverse skillset, often taking turns with Grayson Allen to initiate the offense. He torched defenses methodically.
“The poise he shows and the decision making he has on the floor, he shows maturity beyond his years,” said Knicks center, and former Duke teammate, Marshall Plumlee. “The intangibles with him, for being the high-caliber player he is, that’s what’s really impressed me the most.”
Teammates, coaches, his father, opponents: Everyone around Ingram has labeled him as “unique.” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was nearly left speechless after Ingram’s 25-point, five-rebound outing in that nail-biter vs. Yale. “You put 20 pounds on him,” he said, struggling to find the appropriate words. “There’s nobody like him.” They praised his repertoire of ball skills, demeanor and work ethic, speaking of Ingram like a wondrous prodigy.