LA Lakers choose Duke’s Brandon Ingram with No. 2 pick

The news picked as Wednesday as the Indiana Pacers pulled off a three-team deal with the Atlanta Hawks and Utah Jazz involving point guards Jeff Teague and George Hill and the No. 12 overall pick on Thursday while LeBron James reportedly plans to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers. This time, the Los Angeles Lakers didn’t get fancy.

Hield has a proven track record of being a bonafide scorer, his most memorable performances happening on the road in a triple overtime thriller at Kansas (46 points) and a showdown with Simmons at LSU (32 points).

Celtics’ attempt to move pick are faltering: With Simmons and Ingram likely off the board, the Boston Celtics have a tough decision to make at No. 3.

Simmons’ arrival would also have been the position duplication of Randle at power forward, after the 2014 lottery pick averaged 11.3 points and 10.2 rebounds in just 28.2 minutes in what was essentially his rookie season. Maybe there would have been issues. Ingram’s 3-point shooting will certainly be welcomed by the Lakers, since they were dead last in the National Basketball Association in that category last season. Ingram has NBA-level size, length and shooting ability from the wing and is widely regarded as one of the two-best prospects in this draft class.

“I think it just gives me motivation to show these guys that the skinny part doesn’t matter”, Ingram said. “He did remind me of National Basketball Association players that in this league have made it, but he is a young player”.

“When I left the Sixers workout they told me not to listen to everybody, so I’m just listening to them and I don’t really read the reports that come out about anything else”, the Duke forward said. “… I’m going to definitely take this ride and work the hardest I can to be the best player I can be”.

His name is Brandon Ingram, he’s only 18 years old, he weighs about 100 pounds, but he’s 6 feet 9 with arms that stretch forever and a shot that does something very specific the Lakers desperately need. Welcome to the start of the running totals for their careers.

Let’s examine whether Ingram should be the obvious choice for the Lakers, or if there ought to be other considerations in play.

They’re all win-win situations, and that’s exactly how Mitch Kupchak and the Los Angeles Lakers are feeling about the 2016 NBA Draft. “That’s something that we tried to do”.

The Lakers already began the process of beefing him up during his visit to the team earlier this month.

Q: How many players were compared to Draymond Green on Thursday night? Ingram provides that scoring punch from beyond the arc.