National Basketball Association

Why Kevin Durant's 'mirror' comment on Lakers rookie Brandon Ingram was ridiculous

Published Jul. 20, 2016 3:30 p.m. ET

Andrew Lynch

Let's get one thing out of the way: Kevin Durant knows way more about basketball than any of us. On top of that, he's actually had the honor of facing Los Angeles Lakers rookie Brandon Ingram on the court, if only during Team USA practices this week.

So we're fighting our tendency to defer to KD when we make the following claim: Durant's comments about Ingram are patently absurd.

In case you missed it, here's what Durant had to say on Tuesday:

Kevin Durant on @B_Ingram13: “First person I can say, that I can look at him & feel like I’m looking in the mirror.” pic.twitter.com/1EDSgsrPfu
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) July 19, 2016

Okay. Maybe Durant is looking into a mirror when he sees Ingram -- but if so, it's definitely a fun house mirror that's distorting everyone's perceptions.

Ingram is going to be a fantastic basketball player. And yes, there are similarities between KD and the Lakers' No. 2 overall pick. They were both listed at 6'9" in college. Both players are skilled ball-handlers and even better shooters. And both were rail thin coming into the NBA.

But just focusing on their status as lightweights obscures how good Durant was in his lone year in Texas. Check out their freshman averages side-by-side. Durant crushes Ingram:

Kevin Durant, Texas (2006-07): 25.8 points, 11.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 47.3% FG%, 40.4% 3P%

Brandon Ingram, Duke (2015-16): 17.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 44.2% FG%, 41.0% 3P%

Ingram had an outstanding season at Duke, to be sure. But he was nowhere near Durant's level of play. That's a difference of 8.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game -- or, to put it another way, Durant scored almost 50 percent more points per game than Ingram did.

"Wait, you said what?" (Brett Deering/Getty Images)

And those are just the numbers. When you watched Durant at Texas, it was clear that he was going to be a mega-superstar. Remember, Greg Oden was seen as a can't-miss NBA prospect, the type of big man who comes around once in a generation. Yet Durant was good enough to challenge the notion that Oden was the consensus No. 1 pick. For all of his glory, Ingram's not quite that caliber of player. Not yet, anyway.

The differences go even further. While both were thin freshmen, Ingram's listed weight is a full 30 pounds less than what KD reportedly weighed at Texas. Plus, there's the very clear separation in height between the two. Ingram is probably taller than 6'9", but that's a believable height. There's absolutely no way that KD is that same height, however. Just ask DeMarcus Cousins.

This isn't a matter of age, either. While Ingram is precociously young -- he doesn't turn 19 until September 2 of this year -- the same was true of Durant, who turned 19 on September 27 of his rookie NBA year. Relative to the NBA calendar, the two are less than four weeks apart.

Finally, there's the simple question of dominance. Ingram scored 25 or more points in seven games during his time at Duke, but his career-high in college was just 26 points. Durant, on the other hand, had 11 games of 30 or more points, with a high of 37, which he achieved multiple times during the 2006-07 college season.

Is Ingram a "Kevin Durant-type" of player, then? Sure, assuming you also believe that a hot dog is a sort of sandwich.