Joe Ingles looking at major payday
Once a largely forgotten fourth wing on the depth chart, Joe Ingles turned his game around in a big way this season, eventually becoming Utah’s full-time starter in the postseason. He’s evolved into an effective 3-and-D guy that teams around the league will salivate over. Several teams have already reported interest and Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post indicated that the Orlando Magic are gearing up to extend him a four-year $60 million offer.
Surprised by 4 yrs/$60M for Joe Ingles? May I remind you of the Joe Ingles club? Players with .600+ TS%, 15+ AST% & 2+ AST%... pic.twitter.com/BjInGygXe6
— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) July 1, 2017
In other words, if the Jazz intend to match (which all signs have indicated that they will) they may find themselves giving a massive paycheck to Ingles. That fact makes the acquisition of Ricky Rubio over re-signing George Hill all the more important as it will allow the Jazz to pay both Hayward and Ingles (the two of which are very close friends) while still having a solid starting point guard and still perhaps being able to add an additional impactful piece this offseason.
If I were a Jazz fan, I wouldn't lose a wink of sleep over whether Joe Ingles will be in a Utah uniform next year
— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) July 1, 2017
Nevertheless, it’d still be nice to have some additional financial flexibility even after re-signing Ingles, so hopefully he won’t quite end up being in that $15 million per year range that the Magic could purportedly offer. However, given the year he had last season as well as the kind of money that gets thrown at role players nowadays, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Ingles net that kind of money moving forward.