Brandon Ingram had a career-high 36 points in Monday night’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. After the game, Ingram had to face the media and a swarm of questions related to the trade request made by Anthony Davis and the trade rumors swirling around the entire Lakers young core.
Ingram talked to Dave McMenamin about the rumors and how to move past them.
“That’s just part of the business,” the 21-year-old Ingram told ESPN as he walked out of Staples Center on Tuesday night when asked about the trade speculation. “I realized that. There’s different odds [of where Davis could end up] looking at everything. I can only control what I can control and just be the best that I can be every single day that I’m out on the floor.”
Josh Hart decided to ignore the news instead, rather than embrace it.
“What news? Who? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hart said. “I don’t pay attention to media stuff. I control what I can control and that’s just going out there every day and being a professional about my craft.”
According to McMenamin, the trade rumors are piling up on the shoulders of the team.
Lakers coach Luke Walton did not address the situation with the entire team Monday, a team source told ESPN. However, Walton has had several individual conversations about it with his players, much the same way he did with players last season when the specter of landing James became an elephant in the room and eventually led to the cap-clearing trade at the deadline that sent Larry Nance Jr. and Jordan Clarkson to, coincidentally, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The speculation is “weighing heavily” on the several of young guys this time around, the source said.
Ingram went 16-for-20 from the floor and 5-for-5 from the free-throw line in his career-best game. He explained how he was able to do so well in the game, crediting his work ethic.
“It’s just a matter of me just making shots today,” Ingram told ESPN. “I’ve worked on that part of my game repetitively over and over, and that’s why I’ve gotten so frustrated after games when I miss those shots or when I’m not getting those shots. It’s just me seeing the game better, seeing the game from video [study] and visualizing it and going into the gym and shooting the same shots.”
Ingram was also incredibly animated following a dunk over former teammate and veteran mentor Corey Brewer.
“I don’t think it was so much me yelling — it was first me getting lost into the game and playing and not thinking about anything,” Ingram told ESPN. “But second, that was like my vet. [Brewer] talked to me about everything. Everything that went on behind the scenes, some of the stuff that you can’t say outside [of the locker room] and in front of everybody else. We called each other ‘The Thin Twins.’ We were both under 190 pounds. That’s my dude. He’s been really, really good to me.”
While it’s unsure whether Brandon Ingram will be on the team following the trade deadline, we can appreciate him while he’s here, as with all of the young core.
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