Los Angeles Lakers player comps: Brandon Ingram vs. Kobe Bryant

Comparing two players in an imperfect science, but the practice can help fans try to get a glimpse of their favorite player’s future. Let’s see how Los Angeles Lakers forward Brandon Ingram’s 3rd season in the NBA compares to Kobe Bryant’s junior year.

How did Los Angeles Lakers forward, Brandon Ingram‘s third season in the NBA compared to the legendary Kobe Bryant? Let’s take a look.

Here’s Brandon Ingram’s 3rd-year statistics:

Age 21, 52 games played, 18.3 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 3 APG, 14 FGA, .497 FG%, .330 3P%, .518 eFG%

Here’s Kobe Bryant’s 3rd-year statistics:

Age 20, 50 games played, 19.9 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 3.8 APG, 15.6 FGA, .465 FG%, .267 3P%, .482 eFG%

Before you kill me for comparing Brandon Ingram to an all-time great, give a hard look at their statistics: their strangely similar, with Ingram actually having slightly better shooting numbers.

Statistics aren’t everything, so breath in everything you know about Brandon Ingram, let it swirl around your stomach for a moment, and then allow it land at the bottom of your belly. What does your gut tell you about Ingram’s future? Can he become a superstar?

My gut tells me that Brandon Ingram’s going to be the next Kobe Bryant. Here’s why.

Brandon Ingram’s mentality differentiates him from the other young NBA players. During the beginning of the season, Ingram shot too many off-the-dribble mid-range jumpers, most of which clanged off the rim.

It was ugly watching Brandon try to take over the offense time and time again throughout the first portion of the year, only to see him miss, but his confidence was very similar to another young and brash NBA player; Kobe Bryant.

One of Kobe’s lasting legacies in the league was his self-assurance. Kobe, for good or bad, never stopped shooting. He didn’t care if he missed 15 shots in a row, he always thought the next one was going in.

Brandon Ingram, like Kobe Bryant, works extremely hard on perfecting his craft during the offseason. Throughout the summer before the 2018-2019 season, Ingram worked with Micah Lancaster, one of the best and most intense trainers around the NBA.

Ingram toiled all offseason working on his ball-handling skills, mid-range jumper, and his finishing technique. When he didn’t have a basketball in his hands, he was in the weight room trying to add bulk to his famously skinny frame.

Every Lakers fan knows about Kobe Bryant’s work ethic. The dude lived and breathed basketball, pushing every other distraction to the background until his tunnel vision was so one dimensional that he probably thought about how to perfect his next move on the court every moment of the day.

Brandon Ingram and Kobe Bryant’s games on the court are also very similar. Both players have the ability to score at every level of the court.

Here’s Brandon Ingram’s 3rd year shooting statistics:

0-3 feet: 68%
3-10 feet: 44%
10-16 feet: 39%
16- 3PT: 44%
3P: 33%

Here’s Kobe Bryant’s 5th season shot chart (Unfortunately, Kobe’s 3rd season shooting numbers aren’t available on www.basketball-reference.com, however, the website does have his 5th-year statistics):

0-3 feet: 65%
3-10 feet: 40%
10-16 feet: 46%
16- 3PT: 41%
3P: 30%

Brandon Ingram managed to shoot better than Kobe Bryant during his 5th season (one in which he was an All-Star and averaged over 25 points per game) at every area on the court except from 10-16 feet, but many of the talking heads who chirp on the major sports networks act like he’s a scrub.

Ingram is an exceptionally talented basketball player. Don’t believe the negativity about Brandon that stemmed from the Lakers botched Anthony Davis deal. During February, Dell Demps refused to trade AD to the Lakers for a package that reportedly included Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball, and Josh Hart.

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Dell Demps unwillingness to take the Lakers offer gave encouragement to the three biggest sports analysts from the three biggest networks to start crapping all over the Lakers young talent, especially Brandon Ingram. These three analysts even went so far as to say the Lakers could have offered their entire team-outside of LeBron- for AD in a trade and it still wouldn’t have been enough, because the Purple and Gold were so devoid of talented players.

Then, the chatting parrots that preside over the rest of the less popular sports talk shows robotically followed suit and started preaching the same message about the Lakers young core.

Did any of the “experts” actually do their research? Did they watch Brandon Ingram play? Perhaps they were they just trying to rankle Lakers fans and increase their ratings. Who knows.

Two things are certain though: First, Dell Demps did an atrocious job as the Pelicans GM. If the Lakers had simply offered Brandon Ingram and filler to the Pelicans, Demps should have pulled the trigger on the AD deal, because The Brow doesn’t want to play in New Orleans and Brandon Ingram’s has the potential to become a better player than Davis.

In the end, Dell Demps was fired after the trade deadline. He got off easy, though, because he did such a horrific job in February that the Pelicans owners could have sued him for negligence.

The second thing that’s certain is that Brandon Ingram’s going to be a special player once he hits his prime. His third season in the NBA was, in many ways, better than Kobe Bryant’s.

Further solidify Ingram’s case is the fact that he was one of only five players who were 21 or younger to average 18 points or more for the season. Here are the five players:

Luka Doncic: 21.2 PPG

John Collins: 19.5 PPG

Trae Young: 19.1 PPG

Lauri Markkanen: 18.7 PPG

Brandon Ingram: 18.3 PPG

Ingram was also 5th in defensive win shares among all players 21 or younger, making Brandon the only fledgling player to finish the season as a great offensive player and an exceptional ball hawk as well. Compare Brandon’s defensive numbers to the top-5 offensive players:

Brandon Ingram: 0.106 DWS

Luka Doncic: 0.084 DWS

Lauri Markkanen: 0.063 DWS

John Collins: 0.058 DWS

Trae Young: 0.045 DWS

Brandon Ingram’s 3rd season was very similar to Kobe’s, but Bryant had one huge advantage over Ingram; Kobe was a much more explosive athlete. Bryant’s quick twitch muscles twitched just a little quicker than Ingram’s do, and in the NBA where the minutest abilities can differentiate a great player from a good one, Bryant’s superior athleticism means a lot.

Kobe Bryant had one of the best first steps in the NBA and he used that ability to blow by his man. Once Bryant rid himself of whoever was guarding him, he shattered defenders dumb enough to try and stop him at the rim.

Nobody’s ever called Ingram an amazing athlete. He’s long, he’s talented, and he’s multi-skilled, but he doesn’t have the same capability to get by any opponent guarding him one-on-one the way Bryant did.

Kobe Bryant’s athleticism separated him from most of his peers in the NBA. Ingram doesn’t have Bryant’s same burst, but he does have another aspect to his game that could allow him to gain distance from the other perimeter players in today’s NBA: His length.

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If Brandon Ingram learns to use his length as a deadly weapon in the same way Bryant used his athleticism to destroy his enemies, then Ingram could end up becoming another iteration of Kobe for the Lakers.

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