The Los Angeles Lakers will rely on their young players in the 2017-18 NBA season, especially on Brandon Ingram. A lot of people see him as a future franchise star. Many are also predicting that he will have a breakout year in Los Angeles' new campaign.
To live up to the expectations, Ingram is putting in work ahead of training camp. In a recent interview with Mike Trudell, he stated that being considered an untouchable is one of the things that keeps him extra motivated. In this year's offseason, several teams reportedly reached out to the Lakers and inquired about the 20-year-old.
However, the team's president of basketball operations, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, said that Ingram is untouchable.
As the new season nears, it looks like Johnson and the Lakers made the right decision of holding on to Ingram. The second overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft continues to get better, and he has been vocal about it in the past few days. Ingram recently shared that he is now stronger and more confident shooting from three-point territory. The former Duke Blue Devils standout is also becoming one of the leaders of the purple and gold squad.
Better numbers
In the 2016-17 season, Ingram saw action in 79 games (40 starts) for Los Angeles. He had a sluggish start to his professional career but redeemed himself in the second half of the season.
He finished his rookie year with averages of 9.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per contest. These are decent numbers for a developing talent in the NBA, though they are likely to increase significantly in the new season.
The reason for this is that Ingram is now a go-to-guy for the Lakers -- unlike in the previous season when they had the likes of Nick Young and D'Angelo Russell.
Head coach Luke Walton will give Ingram more minutes which means he should have better production on offense and defense.
Same as Ingram
There is one other player on the Lakers' roster viewed as a leader and an untouchable -- Larry Nance Jr.. Nance will be entering his third year in the NBA. During his first two seasons with the Lakers, Nance also showed signs of improvement.
In the upcoming season, the 24-year-old is set to take on a bigger role. The only question is, will he still be part of the second unit? Nance is a power forward, and the projected starter at the position is Julius Randle. The Finals MVP of the 2017 Las Vegas Summer League (Kyle Kuzma) is also expected to make an impact next season.
