When it comes to Los Angeles Lakers rising star forward Brandon Ingram, the 20-year-old is gradually maturing right in front of our eyes. Already being hailed as the next Kevin Durant, Ingram really stepped up in the clutch on Wednesday night when he drilled the game-winning three with 0.8 seconds left to give the Lakers a 107-104 road victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.

One person who can be credited towards the development of Ingram's game is none other than Lakers President of Basketball Operations Magic Johnson. In an episode of ‘Connected With… Magic Johnson,' the Hall of Famer opened up about the second-year forward out of Duke University.

“He knows where to get in terms of in that seem. He knows how to cross you over, get to the hole and when he gets to that basket he's so long. He loves the contact now. He can really go through the contact now and still score,” Johnson said of Ingram's development since his rookie year.

Johnson recalls last February in Oklahoma City when he approached Ingram during a Lakers' team practice about shying away from contact.

“He would fade away from the contact when he would drive to the basket. So I said ‘man, come here.' I said ‘look, you've got to take it to that big man. You can't fade away because if you fade away, you're not going to get that foul. But if you go through it, as long as you are, you can have an and-one about every single time.' But it takes a guy to take that and put it in his game and go work on it,” Johnson said of Ingram. “Now we're seeing the fruits of that, right? He is going to the basket. Relentless. He's scoring, and not just against Golden State but against everybody in the league.”

A video of the interview between Johnson and Lakers on-air analyst Mike Bresnahan posted to Spectrum SportsNet's official Twitter page can be viewed below.

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In 24 starts this season for the Lakers, Ingram is tied for the team lead in scoring with 16.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in 33.8 minutes of action per contest. Ingram and the Lakers (9-15) will look to win their second game in a row tonight when they visit the Charlotte Hornets (9-15) at Spectrum Center.