Los Angeles Lakers: 5 reasons why they will miss Brandon Ingram

2. His ability to facilitate and be a playmaker

Another thing that makes Ingram a versatile player is his abilities as a ball handler and shot creator for his teammates.

Some would say he needs to show more consistency in this area, but in his sophomore season (2017-18) he averaged 3.9 assists per game, which stacks up pretty favorably with most other small forwards.

That number dipped a bit to 3.0 this past season, but that may have only been because of the addition of James to the Lakers’ roster.

Still, Ingram had some games this past season where he really flaunted his ability to impact the game with his passing. He had nine assists in a late December win over the Sacramento Kings. Then, in an impressive January overtime win in Oklahoma City, Ingram rang up 11 dimes and played a key role in the James-less Lakers beating a better team, despite only taking nine shots (and missing eight of them).

He also had seven assists in the Lakers’ thrilling last-second win in Boston in February. Again, it was a bad offensive game for Ingram, as he only shot 4-14 from the field.

Again, I’m not saying he’ll become as good as Scottie Pippen, but this is another aspect of Ingram’s game that draws comparisons to the Hall-of-Fame Chicago Bulls forward.