Los Angeles Lakers regular season grades: Backcourt players

Brandon Ingram: A-

Defensive Real Plus-Minus: -0.52 (8th)

Field-Goal Percentage Differential: -3.6 (4th)

Defensive Rating: 108 (8th)

Offensive Rating: 106.9 (3rd)

On/Off Offensive Differential: 1.0 (3rd)

Traditional Stats: 18 PPG, 5 RPG, 3 APG, .497 FG%

Brandon Ingram started the season playing really poorly. During October and November, he took too many contested mid-range jumpers and he was a step slow guarding his man. His early season mistakes on offense and defense dragged down his advanced statistics for the year, which is why he doesn’t rank higher on the Lakers in the stats listed above.

As the year progressed, Brandon showed continual improvement. During February, he averaged 21 points per game while shooting 38% from distance. Also in February, after LeBron came back from injury, the Lakers, as a team, hemorrhaged points to opposing teams, ranking 26th in defensive rating for the month, but Ingram still managed to hold the player he was guarding well below their average shooting %.

Ingram’s upward trend continued into March where he averaged 28 points per game on 50% shooting from beyond the arc. Unfortunately, his season ended prematurely because of a blood clot in his shoulder, so he didn’t have a chance to finish the out the year and continue his progression.

During February and March, Brandon Ingram showed that he has true All-Star potential, but the reason he gets an A- is because while the Lakers were crumbling due to trade rumors and lazy defense, Ingram shined. He showed that he’s not only talented and hardworking, but he’s also mentally tough.

In a league where every player is incredibly gifted, the deciding factor between an average player and a superstar is their ability to fight through adversity and continue to produce at the highest level under any circumstance.

Ingram showed that he’s not only physically capable of producing but that he’s also emotionally adept, which means he could become a top-15 player in the NBA.