Brandon Ingram is a consensus top-two player in this year’s NBA Draft. And for a lot of people, that's all they know about the 18-year-old basketball prodigy.
For those that don't even know that much, he was a pivotal part of the Duke’s run to the Sweet 16 last season, a smooth-shooting small forward who averaged 17.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists. As a thin 6’9” wing player with long arms, Ingram has drawn comparisons to Kevin Durant and possesses the kind of upside that makes NBA executives drool.
If we’re indeed about to be blessed with the next KD, you should probably do yourself a favor and learn a little bit about him before the Lakers (most likely) snatch him up with the No. 2 pick. Lucky for you, we did the work. Here are 12 Things You Didn’t Know About Brandon Ingram.
1. He grew up a Duke fan.
Kinston, N.C. is typically regarded as UNC territory. There aren’t many Duke fans in town. But that may change now due to its most famous export.
Ingram said he always rooted for Duke as a kid and his fandom was a major factor in his decision to go there.
"My decision to go to Duke wasn't a surprise to people who really knew me because I was always a Duke fan growing up," Ingram said.
2. His mentor is Jerry Stackhouse.
Two-time NBA All-Star Jerry Stackhouse first became acquainted with the Ingram family as a teenager on the playgrounds of Kinston. Stackhouse was far above most of the players his age growing up, so the teenager wanted to play with the older, better guys.
One of those guys was Donald Ingram, Brandon’s dad. The two have stayed friends, and Stackhouse eventually mentored Brandon on his road to the NBA. They remained close when Ingram was at Duke—despite Stackhouse’s loyalties to his alma mater, North Carolina.
3. One Lakers fan has an easy way to improve his jumpshot.
4. Lil Herb is his favorite pregame listen.
According to dukeblueplanet.com, Herb is his favorite guy to bump pregame. Maybe Herb will drop a mixtape titled “Ballin’ Like I’m Ingram,” after his last one, “Ballin’ Like I’m Kobe” went viral.
5. He won a North Carolina state championship in each of his four years in high school.
6. He rocked KD VIII’s on the Cameron court last season.
Ingram, along with the rest of the Blue Devils, wore Durant's latest signature sneaker on the court last season. It’s interesting that Duke went with this sneaker over that of fellow Nike signee and Duke product Kyrie Irving. But it’s easy to see why it was his choice considering...
7. His favorite team is the Thunder and Durant is his favorite player.
Ingram says he models his game after Durant. So it should come with little surprise that he roots for Durant’s team, the Thunder, over his hometown Charlotte Hornets.
8. J. Cole is one of his favorite rappers.
Like many (some?) hip-hop fans, J. Cole appears to be a favorite of Ingram's. He tweeted out the lyrics to “Intro” April 2015.
10. He’s a pretty good artist.
Ingram is drawing contact on the court and drawing pictures off of it.
Ingram’s is particularly fond of sketching NBA players, including James Harden and Jimmy Butler.
11. When he's not balling, he'd like to go fishing.
While NBA executives are fishing for potential stars like Ingram, Ingram could be fishing for bass. Ingram often tweets about his fishing exploits on Twitter.
13. He posed with a friend on Instagram who was wearing a Lakers jersey.
14. He puts in work at all hours of the day.
