Known as a quiet, even-keeled player and person, Brandon Ingram’s appearance on JJ Redick’s “Old Man & the Three” podcast came as a surprise to many. However, as Redick and Ingram discussed at the beginning of his interview, Ingram is well-spoken and chooses to remain quiet, making him a particularly interesting guest on the podcast.
Among many noteworthy sound bites from his appearance was Ingram talking about his final year with the Los Angeles Lakers. A season mired in trade rumors and a pursuit of then-Pelican Anthony Davis, Ingram found himself constantly in the news through no fault of his own as the Lakers put all their chips on the table to land the star forward.
The rumors and speculation took a toll on the team as they collapsed down the stretch, both mentally and physically, missing the playoffs in an unceremonious fashion with LeBron James on the sideline.
Ingram opened up to Redick about that final season and how much it affected him personally.
“Well, granted I haven’t been in the league long but I just felt like things were just like not normal. Like I would hear former players from the Lakers be like ‘This is not how things are supposed to go. This isn’t how the organization is supposed to be ran.’ For me, I had one game where I think I let the outside get to me because it’s a lot. It’s a lot. I never let outside noise or anything get to me because I’m so prepared for anything. But there was one game where I was like ‘This is more than basketball. This is an action movie that we’re in right now. Everybody is posing for the cameras, everybody knew where the cameras are.’ Just everything. So, it was important for me to block out all the negativity, everything that’s not going to the work of basketball. It was tough for me.”
Redick pressed Ingram on what the one game was that he let things get to him. Though Ingram did not talk about the one game, he did reveal even further the impact the rumors had on him.
“Well, if we’re going that far, I think that whole year, I was yelling at teammates, I was yelling at coaches. I was getting a little outside myself…You know when you get to the point where you’re just going to let everything out. It was just everything of the outside noise, everything of ‘blah blah this’ or whatever it is, I let it affect me at some points instead of actually playing the basketball games because I knew a lot of things in Lakerland wasn’t right, to be honest. I felt that…There was a point where, like I’m always like about everybody else and try to make sure everybody was good, there was the point in time where I had to take some self-care and make sure I’m straight forward.”
Eventually, Ingram would be traded to the Pelicans along with teammates Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart but that move wouldn’t come until after the season when the damage had lone been done.
Ingram’s perspective is an illuminating look at how rumors and speculation can impact young players, no matter what they may show outwardly in the public or not.
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