The ongoing Anthony Davis trade rumors during the 2018-19 NBA season practically derailed both the Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans.
While a trade was finally agreed upon sending Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, and draft picks for Davis, last season was still a lost one.
It was clear throughout the season that the Lakers were affected by the trade rumors as no one knew who would stick around and who would stay. Nearly every person on the roster came up in the media as possibilities to be moved and every day seemed to bring something new.
This can be especially difficult to deal with for young players who are dealing with it for the first time, but Ingram insists he wasn’t bothered by it. In an interview with Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, Ingram noted that he was focused on playing throughout the ordeal and understood this was a business:
I just take stuff differently. Trade rumors, whatever, I always know it is a business. To be in trade rumors, that means someone wants me in this league. I just continue to play hard. I have a routine that I meet every day. I know it was a process and I was going to get there. The process helped get me to where I wanted to be before the injury. I was on the up-and-up, I got hurt. But now I am in a good situation. Everything happens for a reason.
Ingram continued on saying he wasn’t mad about the move and views it as a new opportunity:
I don’t know. I feel like God’s plan is God’s plan. I would be wrong to say I didn’t need it, because it happened for a reason. I wasn’t mad about it at all. … I just looked at it as another opportunity.
Obviously, this was something out of Ingram’s control and he recognized that. It is an extremely mature way to handle the situation and he has undoubtedly moved forward in his career and taken the next step in his career.
Ingram has been one of the early young All-Star players of this season, averaging 23.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists. And as Ingram said, he was on the rise before his injury last season and that trajectory has continued so far.
Now in New Orleans, Ingram has an amazing opportunity to grow into a star and so far he’s doing exactly that.
