Dreams Do Come True! *With A Ton of Hard Work

10 Apr, 2018

Guard Andre Ingram spent 10 years in the G League before getting the an emotional call up to the Los Angeles Lakers this week.

Ingram, 32, the G League’s all-time leader in made three-pointers, did not disappoint in his long-awaited debut.

After receiving big cheers after coming off the bench late in the first quarter of the Lakers’ game against the Houston Rockets, Ingram wasted little time in canning his first basket at basketball’s top level.

Ingram, whose 384 G League games rank second all time, took the feed from Travis Wear with just under 11 minutes left in the second quarter and let it fly.

“I tried not to think about the first one going down,” Ingram said. “But to a man, everyone was like, ‘When you get it, just let it go!’ All the players, all the coaches. It was crazy. To see that first one go in, I felt great.”

Ingram got off to a perfect 3-for-3 start from both the field and the free throw line to lead the Lakers with 11 points at halftime.

Ingram finished with 19 points on a 6-for-8 shooting night, including a 4-for-5 mark from 3, in 29 minutes.

“It was excellent,” Ingram said of his first NBA game. “Once we went out as a team for warm-ups, I just felt some electricity out there. It was amazing. The crowd, the lights, it was just once in a lifetime. It was awesome.”

The performance put Ingram in some select company: Per ESPN Stats & Info, only Magic Johnson, Nick Van Exel and Jerry West scored more points in their NBA debuts in the team’s Los Angeles-era.

“To play the way he played, that’s the stuff that dreams are made of,” said Lakers center Brook Lopez. “Just an inspirational story. He belonged out there.”

Ingram entered the G League as a little-known prospect out of American University, a Patriot League school in Washington. He majored in physics, made two all-conference teams and bypassed overseas opportunities to play in the G League because he believed it would give him the best chance of ever playing in the NBA.

With his appearance vs. the Rockets, Ingram is just the second player from American University to appear in an NBA game.

“That’s a testament to hard work, never giving up, and just sticking with it,” said Lakers forward Julius Randle.

USA Today

Image Legion Hoops twitter

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