Tweet from Kobe Bryant highlight of Andre Ingram’s overnight stardom

LOS ANGELES — It wasn’t the live hit with Charles Barkley and the rest of the Turner Sports’ “Inside the NBA” crew that was most surreal to Andre Ingram. Nor was it the fact that following his 19-point outburst Tuesday that his presence was requested across the street from Staples Center on set with ESPN’s late-night “SportsCenter”.

It was when his brother told him about the tweet sent by Kobe Bryant. “LOVE IT” the Lakers legend tweeted, joining a chorus of NBA stars in voicing admiration for the 32-year-old following his NBA debut.

“When he told me that, we both kind of went a little crazy,” Ingram said. “We are Kobe lovers. We just are, for some time now.”

Ingram was, quite literally, an overnight sensation.

The Lakers missed the playoffs for a fifth straight season, but Ingram’s feel-good performance in his NBA debut breathed life into what otherwise were two meaningless games.

Ingram came back to earth in his second game with the Lakers, shooting 2 for 9 in 33 minutes. After making four out of five 3-pointers in his debut, he was just 1 for 4 from deep against the Clippers, finishing with five points, six assists and three rebounds.

That did not diminish, however, what occurred one night earlier.

“It’s such a great story because people who play in this league know how hard it is and know what sacrifice and dedication it takes to make it here,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said. “People all around the NBA were watching and commenting on it and excited for him. And that’s a really cool thing.”

Ingram said he was “advised to just cut the phone off.” But when he turned on his cell in the hours after his sizzling debut, Ingram saw hundreds of messages from friends, former teammates and coaches, and the students he’s tutored in math to supplement his $19,500 salary as a player with the South Bay Lakers.

“I tried not to read them,” Ingram said, “because I’d end up responding. That’s just how it would be.”

The question now for Ingram, who will return to Virginia with his wife and two daughters, is whether he has a future in the NBA.

“I’m sure every team right now is talking about that,” Walton said. “What the answer is, I don’t know. … But when you can shoot the ball that well. … (In) the NBA you get superstars and you get specialists around those superstars. That’s kind of how you build out a really good team. He is a specialist at what he does.”

Whether he plays in the NBA again or not, Ingram has achieved the kind of crossover fame many NBA players never do. He is scheduled to appear on “Good Morning America” on Thursday morning. The morning after his breakout performance, paparazzi were stationed outside Ingram’s hotel.

“My wife and I, we look at each other every, I don’t know, 30 or so minutes and we say, ‘What is going on? What is happening here?’” Ingram said.

What happened was that on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, a 32-year-old math tutor from Richmond, Va., got to live to his NBA dream.

“It was pretty special,” Walton said.

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