Shortly after the Lakers season ended last April, rookie wing Brandon Ingram took his mom, dad, grandmother and sister on a vacation to the Bahamas.
It was a special trip, a way for Ingram to say thanks to his family. You see, Ingram grew up in the projects of Kinston, N.C., and watched his parents work their butts off to support him and his siblings. His dad worked crazy hours at two jobs, a forklift plant and a gym, and his mom in pharmaceutical medicine fulfilling prescriptions for older sick people, also working constantly.
Though he just turned 20, Ingram has already been able to buy his parents a new house, and take them on trips that would have been hard to envision years ago.