– Brandon Ingram
One of the key players for the Lakers in the absence of LeBron James has been Brandon Ingram. In the games that the Lakers have either won or been competitive in, Ingram has played well. At just 21-years-old, consistency is still something that hasn’t come yet for Ingram, but he shows flashes of the type of player that he can be, and sometimes it looks like a very good one.
In the win over the Bulls, Ingram had one of those strong games, as he totaled 16 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists. As a very versatile player with his size and speed, Ingram is a matchup problem for most defenses. Against the Bulls, he showed that.
Since the Lakers don’t have a backup point guard with Rondo out, Ingram has been with the ball in his hands more. As the point guard, Ingram seems to be very comfortable and is a capable play-maker.
While Ingram did play well in this game, the Lakers really need him to take on more of a scoring role with James out. Kyle Kuzma is being asked to do a lot offensively, and ideally, Ingram scoring in the 20s would make things a lot easier.