NEW YORK — Before the relief, Brandon Ingram had to first establish the belief.



The belief that he was becoming what he had always intended in the NBA kept Ingram encouraged and motivated when he discovered in March that the pinch he felt in his right armpit was the result of a deep venous thrombosis, otherwise known as a blood clot. Basketball had always been his everything, his escape, his purpose since no hobby could come close to being as fulfilling. But Ingram didn’t know if the game was going to be taken away in the short term, or forever, until doctors at UCLA Medical Center informed him that the condition was caught soon enough that it was neither life- nor career-threatening.



The relief helped Ingram get over his own silly, youthful and unnecessarily defiant pledge that he’d never have surgery. He underwent a procedure, which involved removing part of his rib, putting his career on pause so that it could progress. Weakened by blood thinners,...