Brandon Ingram is part of the Select Team that is scrimmaging against the Team USA in preparation for the Rio Olympics, and if we had to pick one guy on the first team to watch Ingram guard, Kevin Durant is the crushingly obvious choice. Ever since his narrow frame and impossibly long arms came onto the high school scene, he’s drawn comparisons to KD. Now, those comparisons have a blessing from the man himself.
Speaking with reporters after a Team USA practice in Las Vegas, Durant called himself a “huge fan” who “watched almost every game” Ingram played at Duke last season. That’s a great start to their budding relationship, but it’s not even the highest praise Durant gave to Ingram.
“He’s the first person that I could… look at him and feel like I’m looking in the mirror,” Durant said to reporters, after noting that Ingram “is a little farther along than I was at that stage.”
This isn’t the first time Durant has heaped praise on a rookie — just last year, he called Kristaps Porzingis a “unicorn” — but it feels especially meaningful to see him bless young Ingram as an inheritor to his unique legacy. If Ingram fills even two-thirds of the promise that comparison means, the Lakers will be very satisfied with picking him. Of course, they already have to be feeling pretty good after seeing his Summer League performance:
(Via Lakers Nation)
