Lakers G League Star Andre Ingram Discusses Winning $31.7K on 'Wheel of Fortune'

Andre Ingram has been playing professional basketball since 2007, but he might be best known for a recent appearance on one of the most iconic television game shows. 

On Dec. 10, Ingram was a contestant on Wheel of Fortune and won $31,750 en route to reaching the bonus round. 

Speaking to David Aldridge of The Athletic, Ingram called his experience on the show "quite surreal" and what it was like when host Pat Sajak crowned him the winner:

"I’m just in that moment. I’m just taking it all in, like they say. I guess it’s easier to do that when you’ve been having some success with it. I was just genuinely enjoying, at that point, everything about it. Just happy that that’s Pat Sajak, that it’s Vanna White, ’cause you know how long they’ve been doing it. Who’s to say they won’t have another host soon? So to meet them, that’s the show that I wanted to be on."

Ingram, who currently plays with the G League's South Bay Lakers, describes himself as a lifelong fan of Wheel of Fortune, with Aldridge noting he "schedules his offseason workouts to be finished so he can watch every night."

According to Aldridge, Ingram sent in a one-minute video message to the show's producers in April 2020 after the G League season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"They said, ‘We liked your video; would you mind doing some online auditions for us?" Ingram said after hearing back from the show. “I said, sure. We did that, and then I waited again, like a month later, to where they said, ‘Hey, we think we’re going to have you on the show.'"

Ingram taped his appearance on the show in October, ahead of the start of the G League season on Nov. 5. He won the first two rounds and two toss-up puzzles to finish with $31,750. 

The Virginia native was tripped up in the bonus round. The category was event, but he only had six of the letters in "Fierce Blizzard" and was unable to figure it out before the 10-second time limit expired. 

Ingram has since returned to his day job with the South Bay Lakers. He is averaging 6.1 points and 1.7 rebounds per game in 14 appearances. He has played six games in the NBA for the Los Angeles Lakers, scoring 19 points in his first game on April 10, 2018.