From the minors to the majors

The oldest rookie to play in the NBA was Argentine national player Pablo Prigioni who was signed in 2012 by the New York Knicks to a rookie-minimum one-year deal.  He was 35-years old at that time.  He ended his NBA career with the LA Clippers in 2016 and had a brief stint as coach of the Spanish and Euro League team Baskonia.

The second oldest rookie to recently play in the NBA and the oldest American to do so is a 10-year veteran on the NBA’s developmental league who tutors mathematics as a side-line to augment the $26,000 per season salary he receives as a G-leaguer.   His dream was a decade in the making and he finally debuted last Wednesday playing for the LA Lakers after he was signed for the team’s remaining two games of the regular season.

Committed to his family and his desire to play in the NBA, he refused to play overseas for a much higher pay and stayed with the G-League.  Graduating from American University with a degree in Physics in 2007, Andre Ingram was drafted that year by the Utah Flash until 2011, then with the LA Defenders and briefly played in Australia.  Coming back to the G-League, he returned to LA, now known as the South Bay Lakers.

Ingram is the G-League’s all-time leader with 713 career 3-pointers made.  During a three-point shooting duel with Jimmer Fredette in 2016, Ingram nailed 39 out of 50 attempts, at one stretch hitting 13 straight.  He has high 46.1 percent conversion rate from long range.  The NBA’s resident sharpshooter Stephen Curry’s career best is 43.6 percent.

It would had been enough for him or for the fans to show up and have some minutes on the floor but to the fans’ delight, Ingram, with a good amount of grey on his hair, displayed a shooting show, converting 4 of 5 attempts from beyond the 3-point line for a solid 19 points, coupled with 3 rebounds and 3 blocks versus Houston.  His point production was the most by a Laker in his first career game since Nick Van Exel made 23 points in 1993.  He scored 11 points in six minutes and didn’t miss a shot until the fourth quarter.

At 32-years old, he’s six months younger than the Rockets’ 13-year vet Chris Paul.  He was signed by the Lakers as one of the fillers for the injured Lonzo Ball, who was only ten years old when Ingram graduated from college in 2007. 

Coach Luke Walton recommended Ingram to management as he was familiar of his shooting since he had been with the Lakers’ affiliate minor league team before moving up to the NBA.  During the 2016-2017 G-League season, Ingram scorched the nets with a 55 percent conversion from behind the arc. 

Walton said the signing was not about being nice to Ingram.  “We were bringing him up because we thought he could help us when we have bodies down, and he can shoot the ball.  It was for us just as it was for him and I think he showed the basketball world what kind of shooter he is”, Walton said.

He is only the second player from American University to play in the NBA, joining Kermit Washington who was most remembered from breaking Rudy Tomjanovich’s jaw in an on-court brawl.  Ingram likewise is the third oldest player on the current Laker roster behind Loul Deng and Channing Frye.

In yesterday’s win against the Clippers, their last for the season, Josh Hart and Gary Payton Jr. had career nights but Ingram played a solid 30-plus minutes with 5 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists and two steals.  In two games, he earned $46,000, almost twice the amount he received from a single season in the G-league.

Ingram once stopped playing for a season to care for their daughter and let his wife Marilee finish college.  They live in Richmond, Virginia.

It might had been late but Andre Ingram’s dream of playing in the NBA has come true.