Joe Ingles
If Gordon Hayward’s interview didn’t do a good enough job of leaving fans feeling optimistic, Joe Ingles’ most certainly should have. He mentioned that he and Gordon had indeed talked about the future and Ingles made it clear that he personally would like to stay and alluded to feeling confident that Hayward would as well. He echoed Hill’s sentiment that Hayward’s heart is in Utah and mentioned that Gordon loves the team and organization.
It was easy to gather from his comments as well that he felt that the majority of his teammates would also like to stay with the team. That speaks volumes for the cohesion and unity of the team and with success on the basketball court as these guys’ primary focus, it feels like they love what they have going and it would be hard for any of them to leave.
Joe Ingles - Utah wasn't on my bucket list, but once I got here, it's the perfect city. My nightlife ends at 8pm with twins ☺️
— kristen kenney (@kristenkenney) May 9, 2017
Furthermore, like many of his teammates, Ingles, who was sporting one of the iconic #Nightlife shirts at the podium, raved about Utah, mentioning in a somewhat joking manner that his “nightlife” involved taking care of his twins and ended around 8:00 pm. It’s pretty awesome to see a trend of guys that love the city for what it is and more than anything are thrilled to be playing with such a great group of players and for an incredible organization.
Ingles is far from a perfect player, but he made some awe-inspiring strides this season. Between his hot shooting, much-improved defense, relationship with Gordon Hayward and ability to bring the team together, I truly hope that Utah will find a way to keep him on board. He’s an unrestricted free agent so the ball will be in the Jazz’s court, but hopefully financial implications don’t force them to let fan favorite Joe Ingles go.