As well as doing what he does best on the court, the Los Angeles Lakers are hoping that LeBron James can help mentor their talented young players during his time with the franchise.

They may have failed to add another superstar to play with LBJ this summer but they have several youngsters on their roster who can develop into stars.

The likes of Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart are all extremely promising players.

Of the quartet, Ingram is arguably the one with the most potential and upside.

Elevating his game

The Lakers have high hopes for the lengthy 20-year-old as he showed real growth in his second season in the league.

He improved across the board last year as his scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, blocks, field goal and three-point percentages were all up.

Ingram ended the campaign averaging 16.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists on 47 percent shooting and 39 percent from beyond the arc.

Despite being a natural small forward, he has solid ball-handling skills and took over the team's point guard duties at one point during last season as they were hit by injuries.

There's no doubt that the former number two overall pick has a bright future ahead of him and the Lakers are hoping he realises his potential while he's wearing the purple and gold uniform.

That's why president Magic Johnson is keen to see Ingram spend as much time with LeBron as possible.

Learning from the best

Johnson wants him to pick up as many habits as he can from the league's best player and to learn what it takes to play at a high level every single night.

“Listen, I want to put LeBron with him — in August — every day," he told ESPN in an interview.

"September, then training camp, and then also in practice, on the bus, on the planes. Listen, these young guys didn’t really have a veteran to really teach them when we drafted them.

"So now they have not only the best player in the world but a world champion. And this guy, LeBron, man, he’s in such top shape today. And this is July.

"So that’ll help them understand how to train, how to also eat right, on and on and on. I think the guy who LeBron is going to have the biggest impact on is Brandon Ingram.

"Because he has the size and length to be really special.”

Due to his frame and height, the Duke product has often been compared to Kevin Durant.

If he's able to develop and have a similar impact on the league as KD has, LA will have a real star on their hands.

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