Ingram will have an MRI
SAN ANTONIO — Brandon Ingram sat out Saturday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs because of a left hip flexor injury. The severity of the injury wasn’t known, but the Lakers’ second-year small forward will have an MRI on Sunday after the team returns home from its latest trip.
“It still felt a little sore,” Ingram said. “I wasn’t trying to put a lot of weight on it. Just feels sore just walking a little bit. Of course I’m going to try to get an MRI tomorrow, but hopefully it’s not that serious.”
Ingram suffered the injury in the fourth quarter Thursday night when Miami’s Justise Winslow rose against him and kneed him in the groin area. Their contact happened after Josh Richardson had fouled Ingram, and Winslow was assessed a technical foul.
“I saw the play, but I’m not sure,” Ingram said, when asked if he had a problem with the play. “I’m not in other guy’s body so I’m not sure how he was thinking, trying to block the shot or thinking whether the whistle had blown or not. It happens. That’s all I can say about it.”
Ingram has missed four games this season with injuries and has had pain in his groin area before.
“This has varied a little bit from the right side, left side,” Ingram said. “I think this pain is a little bit worse than the other.”
Wear lives a dream
Travis Wear has worn a Lakers jersey plenty of times in his life. It’s just that the jersey he wore usually said O’Neal, Bryant or (less often) Horry on the back, and he was wearing them in his frontyard, or playing basketball on the street.
On Saturday, Wear, who was born in Long Beach and played at UCLA, got a chance to live out a dream. He scored seven points in 13 minutes in the Lakers’ win over the Spurs.
“It’s huge,” Wear said before the game. “I mean this is as official as it gets. NBA regular-season game. Team’s playing really good right now. Just want to come in and help them win and do what I do.”
Wear went undrafted in 2014. He was on the New York Knicks’ development league affiliate but did spend some time with their NBA roster. Wear played in Spain the next year, then returned to the United States to play on the Lakers’ summer league team. From there, the Lakers kept Wear on their developmental team, the South Bay Lakers.
“What I like most is his shooting,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said. “He can shoot lights out. What he does well besides that is he rebounds the ball which is a key focus for us, being able to rebound. He’ll bring both of those to the table.”
No break
Walton was asked before the game if Julius Randle’s improved play lately has changed how tough he is on the fourth-year forward.
“I love being tough on Julius,” Walton said, with a smile. “I still challenge him pretty much every game and he, most games, responds very nicely. But no, I’m still on him.”