Since being selected by the Los Angeles Lakers as the second overall pick, Brandon Ingram has oozed with potential and his eventual ceiling have been discussed at length.

Many have speculated on how long it will take him to adapt to the physicality of the league, and others have asked if Ingram, alongside point guard D’Angelo Russell, represents the future of the franchise. For a skinny 19-year-old, the expectations are high.

The burden could be much greater for Ingram, as he happened to join the Lakers in the same summer in which they lost an all-time great – Kobe Bryant.

“I knew it was some big shoes to fill,” Ingram told Baxter Holmes of ESPN.

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Seemingly unfazed by the pressure, Ingram has made himself right at home in the exact spot where the Lakers legend once resided. Holmes recently revealed that Ingram was given his new locker at the Staples Center, ahead of their 101-97 loss to the Denver Nuggets. Ingram can now find his jersey hanging in Bryant’s old locker.

“It’s a message,” Ingram said, “that they’re looking for somebody to step it up.”

After the game, the former Duke standout addressed the media, right in front of the iconic locker. Among other questions, he was asked what the locker designation means to him and he said all the right things.

“I knew that [there’s] somebody different here after 20 years,” Ingram began, “and, of course, we talk about new era, and it’s definitely a new era for our guys to start a new journey.”