With Lonzo Ball continuing to deal with a knee injury, Brandon Ingram has taken on more of a point forward role for the Los Angeles Lakers. Ingram brings the ball up the court, dictates the pace, and facilitates in a situation he's more than capable of handling.

Along with having the ball in hands more often than not recently, the second-year forward has improved in many areas, including his shooting from beyond the arc. Ingram is currently shooting an impressive 39.3 percent from deep and flourishing in his new role with Luke Walton noticing his improved play. Walton talked about the job Ingram has done filling the void left by the injured Ball after practice on Tuesday.

“The way that he's playing and the way that he's facilitating for us is really putting him in a nice rhythm,” Walton said of Ingram. “He's shooting the ball with extreme confidence right now. He's not taking bad threes. They're normally inside-out type of shots or swing-swing shots.

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“A player like Brandon has the feel and all-around game that he has when they're really engaged and doing all aspects of the game, I think his confidence goes up. Playing the way he does, I think, as far as not being just a scorer, but defensively guarding their point guard and playmaking and pushing the pace, allows the fact that when that ball does get swung to him, he feels really good and confident with it in his hands. That's why he's shooting such a good percentage right now.”

With the 20-year-old coming into his own this season and the team as a whole buying into Walton's system, the Lakers are definitely a team on the rise in the NBA. Ingram is considered to be a cornerstone of this franchise and one of the players Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka will continue to build around moving forward.

If Ingram continues to improve while being one of the most versatile players on the team, he'll have a bright in the NBA while potentially being a star in the making for the purple and gold. Although the Lakers brass have their sights set on superstar talent at the forward position in free agency, Ingram has made a strong case to be one of the few players on the squad that could be with the franchise for many years to come.