Lakers News: Kevin Durant compares himself to Brandon Ingram

In the lead-up to the 2016 NBA Draft, it was nearly impossible to find a player comparison for Ben Simmons. The presumptive first overall pick’s game was unique enough to defy previous archetypes.

Such comparisons were less difficult for the eventual second overall pick, Brandon Ingram. The skinny, 6’9 Duke product’s physical and stylistic similarities to Kevin Durant were consistently touted as positive features on his resume, and apparently the subject of those comparisons agrees.

“[He is the] first person I can say, that I can look at him and feel like I’m looking in the mirror,” Durant told Serena Winters of Lakers Nation of Ingram, who impressed him by being “even farther along than [Durant] was at that age.”

Ingram had an up-and-down time at Las Vegas Summer League, but that’s to be expected from an 18-year old prospect playing against professionals for the first time.

Durant was incredible as a rookie, and so it’s probably unreasonable to expect Ingram to live up to his future-self’s the Golden State forward’s high praise this season. However, it certainly is noteworthy to hear that the player to which Ingram is most compared to feels as though he’s looking at a mirror image when he practices against him. With a few years, some hard work, and a little luck, Ingram could live up to those lofty expectations.

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