You certainly can’t accuse Magic Johnson of selling his players short.
In a feature earlier this week on Los Angeles Lakers forward Brandon Ingram by Mark Medina of the LA Daily News, Johnson laid out his lofty expectations of the 19-year-old for the 2017-18 season.
“I expect him to lead us in scoring, be out there and be the man. It’s his team,” said the Lakers president of basketball operations about Ingram. “It would be disappointing if he didn’t score up toward 20 points a game.”
It would require quite the leap from the ex-No. 2 overall pick, who averaged just 9.4 points per game as a rookie last season and finished sixth on the team in scoring. But that number for Ingram jumped to 11.7 points per 36 minutes, and the addition of Lonzo Ball should get him more efficient scoring chances.
It’s true that Johnson is arguably guilty of hyperbole from time to time. But his vote of confidence in Ingram could really help the Duke product get to the next level as a sophomore next season.
