Joe Ingles Timberwolves: NBA Free Agency Return
- On Monday, the Timberwolves and Ingles agreed to a one-year deal worth the minimum $3.6 million, a source confirmed.
- Ingles, 37, didn’t play much for the Wolves last season, but coaches and teammates praised his leadership in the locker room and on the bench during games.
- “He’s been always ready, his voice in the locker room and his presence and his personality on this team, his leadership has meant everything,” Finch said in March.
Joe Ingles will be back in Minnesota for a second season.
On Monday, the Timberwolves and Ingles agreed to a one-year deal worth the minimum $3.6 million, a source confirmed.
Ingles, 37, didn’t play much for the Wolves last season, but coaches and teammates praised his leadership in the locker room and on the bench during games. He got in only 19 games and averaged 0.8 points per game. But coach Chris Finch frequently praised Ingles for how he dealt with not playing much and the contributions he made to the team despite little playing time.
“He’s been always ready, his voice in the locker room and his presence and his personality on this team, his leadership has meant everything,” Finch said in March.
The Wolves had a larger role carved out for Ingles prior to making the trade for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo just before training camp began last season. That trade rearranged the depth chart ahead of him.
Ingles will be entering his 12th season after playing for Utah and Orlando before the Wolves. His family spent most of last season in Orlando, but they were in attendance during the lone start Ingles made last season, which came March 21 against the Pelicans. Ingles’ son Jacob is autistic and had not been able to watch his dad play a game in person.
“It’s something I’ve always thought about,” Ingles said after that game. “But at this point in my career, if it happened it happened, and if it didn’t, it didn’t.”
Finch decided to surprise Ingles by putting him in the starting lineup for that game.