The comparisons between Brandon Ingram and Kevin Durant has been in the league since the young player was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers a couple of years ago. In the beginning, people thought that was crazy given that the forward was yet to prove his value in the league and hadn’t made the same impact made on the league as soon as he landed with the then Seattle Supersonics.
Well, now Ingram is becoming a star in the association with the New Orleans Pelicans, proving his doubters wrong, earning more and more praise every day. For instance, Durant praised Ingram during the first game of the NBA restart in Orlando. Ingram was ballin and KD was quick to note that he was a ‘different breed’.
#14 is a different breed..
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) July 30, 2020
However, that wasn’t the first time KD praised the young gun. They had the chance to play together in 2016, during a Team USA camp, and the 2014 NBA MVP saw the similarities between him and BI. Durant revealed he had watched Ingram in college and it was like ‘looking in a mirror’.
“He (Brandon Ingram) reminds me of myself, but he’s a little farther along than I was at that stage,” Durant said after one practice. “I feel like if you continue to keep working, he’s with a great organization that’s going to push him and put him in a good position to be who he is. Continue to just work hard and believe in himself and everything is possible for him. He’s a great player. I watched him almost every game this season. I’m a huge fan, first person I can say that I can look at him and feel like I’m looking in the mirror. I’m rooting for him.”
Furthermore, Durant claimed Ingram was more advanced than he was when he made it to the league, explaining the differences between his game and Ingram’s at that point.
“He’s a little bit more fluid than I was, as far as skill-wise, a little more advanced than I was at that time. I was just running, jumping, shooting threes,” Durant continued. “But, he could put the ball on the floor, change directions, get to the rim, shoot the pull-up three, so that stuff started to come a little later on for me, but he’s a little farther along than I was.”
Well, now the duels between these two look very interesting. KD is coming back from an injury next season and we’re pretty sure fans will be excited to see him playing against his ‘doppelganger’, Ingram. KD saw something that just a few people saw and now the time has proven he was right. Ingram is on the rise to stardom and we don’t know what’s the roof for him.
