NEW YORK — With a razor swerving through his hair in a snug room on the 28th floor of the Grand Hyatt, overlooking the city with his entire family, Brandon Ingram is relaxed and a far cry from nervous as a barber grooms the lengthy, 6-foot-9 former Duke forward.
As the likely No. 2 pick in the NBA draft on Thursday — most experts believe the Los Angeles Lakers will pick him after LSU’s Ben Simmons goes to the Philadelphia 76ers — Ingram’s life is about to change drastically. Yet his emotions, he says, will be hidden like always.
“It just kicked in this week, that this is happening. I’m about to live out my dream,” Ingram tells USA TODAY Sports during an extended behind-the-scenes pre-draft interview, part of that time he used to get a haircut. “I’ll have my emotions in check when they call my name. I’m good at hiding them. … My family, though, they’ll cry.”
That’s the relaxed, hidden demeanor most fans in Durham grew accustomed to seeing. His mother, Joann, says that’s just Brandon on the surface. Beneath it lies a fire that will catapult him into becoming an instant star for a struggling franchise that will need an All-Star right away.
“There have been so many games where he walks out there all lazy-looking and everyone is like, ‘psshh.’ But then when he plays, everyone shuts up,” Joann Ingram says. “It’s almost like a Clark Kent-Superman transformation. He doesn’t go out there to be good. He goes out there to be great.”
Keeping his calm demeanor in a New York bowling alley, Ingram says he isn’t feeling the Hollywood-sized pressure that is sure to come in full force should he play for a team like the Lakers, asserting he’ll “impact the game in my own way and take it one step at a time.” He does, however, plan to “be the best player on the court every night” and notes that patience isn’t his strength.
“I feel like I’m a competitor. I hate to lose. I try to make a name off someone before they make a name off me,” says Ingram, who adds that whichever team takes him Thursday, “anything can happen, it’s about preference.” The Boston Celtics have the third overall pick if Ingram unexpectedly falls.
His father, Donald, concedes Ingram’s laidback personality blankets his fiery drive, and says criticism of his son’s frail body strength and relaxed demeanor — Ingram’s physique has drawn comparisons to a similarly-doubted Kevin Durant in 2007 — are simply surface perceptions.
“He suppresses a lot of his emotions,” Donald Ingram says. “He might get hit or thrown down. He might hear remarks on social media. But his response is always on the court. He channels the criticism by winning. That shows a lot about his strength on the inside. Everybody’s talking about his strength on the outside with his frame. But that inner strength is what a team’s drafting.”
Ingram’s older brother, Donovan, played basketball at UT-Arlington and let a young Brandon play with older kids. And ex-NBA player Jerry Stackhouse mentored Ingram, coaching his AAU high school team. Those influences “took me to the next level,” Ingram says. But the 18-year old’s foundation as a player undoubtedly came from his father, who was a high school and collegiate referee.
“He was trained correctly, both mentally and physically. He grew up knowing the rules of the game,” Donald Ingram says. “When a referee calls something, he understands it, even if it’s wrong. You don’t see him complaining. So with his demeanor, he’s calm and easy going because I taught him where to direct his frustration.”
Ingram, who has focused on improving his body — conditioning, weightlifting and eating six meals a day to bulk up — leading up to draft night, believes he can offer a team a versatile style that translates to the professional level right away, but also feels he’s just tapped into his potential. If his first and only season at Duke is a barometer for his growth rate, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas believes the sky is the limit.
“Ben Simmons is a full year older than Brandon Ingram,” Bilas says. “You kind of look at that with players, what’s their growth going to be like, what are they going to look like when they’re 23 or 24 years old.”
As a freshman, Ingram averaged 17.3 points and 6.8 rebounds a game, in leading the Blue Devils to the Sweet 16. Before that, he led Kinston (N.C.) High School to four consecutive state titles.
“Being selected early, he’s going to one of the worse teams in the league. No one man can be a savior for a team, but Brandon doesn’t like to lose. That challenge will make him better,” Donald Ingram says. “For him to make it to Duke and the NBA, it shows how determined he was for the goal he set forth. Where we’re from in Kinston (N.C.), it’s a small town riddled with crime. A lot of his age group ended up in gangs, locked up, or killed. His drive made him mature.”
Ingram says he’s stayed in constant contact with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski during the draft process, joking that the Hall of Famer texts him more than he calls.
“He won’t use the emojis when he’s mad at me,” Ingram says, laughing. “The Duke family, those are my brothers, and it’s something I’ll always take with me. Coach K, he gives me a lot of motivational things and checks in on me and my family. He knows where my heart is.”
Ingram, who has tattoos covering most of his upper body over his 7-3 wingspan, says he lost count after about 15 tattoos. The two that stand out are his father’s name on the right shoulder and his mother’s name on the left. His mother, Joann, says the tattoos capture his personality and, much like his demeanor, are just the “outer layer.”
