Lonzo Ball thinks Brandon Ingram is ‘an All-Star in this league,’ also praises Kyle Kuzma

With each passing game, Brandon Ingram looks more comfortable in his own skin with the Los Angeles Lakers. After pouring in 31 points in a win against the Sacramento Kings last week, Ingram dropped 26 points in the Lakers’ 123-113 win over the Golden State Warriors.

Those flashes are nothing new, but fans are starting to see them with more regularity. It’s for that reason Ingram’s teammate, Lonzo Ball, said he is ready to see Ingram in the All-Star game this season (via Spectrum Sportsnet):

“B.I. looks like he just grew up. He’s his own man now and he’s in All-Star in this league.”

Ball was also complimentary of Kyle Kuzma, who he said might have a chance to be even better as a sophomore than he was during his breakout rookie campaign:

“Kuz, it’s his second year. He had a monster rookie year and now he has to come back and do even better than that.”

But back to Ingram, having the support of his teammates, let alone one of the franchise’s building blocks, surely means something to Ingram, but the soft-spoken 21-year-old is just as eager to suit up for this year’s All-Star game as Ball is to see him there.

This year’s game will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, roughly 250 miles away from Kinston, where Ingram grew up, and Ingram told Bill Oram of The Athletic earlier this week that he wants to be there:

“I want to be an All-Star,” he told The Athletic. “I want to be an All-Star this year.”

In the crowded Western Conference, the declaration may sound ambitious, to say the least. But Ingram doesn’t think so.

“Sounds pretty realistic to me,” he said.

If Ingram were voted into the All-Star game this season, he would likely be the youngest All-Star from both conferences. Even if second-year guard Donovan Mitchell was voted in, Ingram would be the youngest by a year.

He would also be the first player from the 2016 NBA Draft class to make an All-Star game, although there is a very strong chance Ben Simmons represents the Philadelphia 76ers this season.

However, Ingram’s chances of doing that are pretty slim, as Silver Screen and Roll’s own Anthony Irwin pointed out earlier this week, but if/when he doesn’t, it won’t be for lack of support and belief from the locker room. And if Ingram continues to improve at the rate he has been, he’ll get to the All-Star game sooner or later.

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