It has been one heck of a season for Aussies in the NBA. Ben Simmons is helping to prove that the process should have been trusted in Philadelphia, and Joe Ingles has become the secret weapon for the Jazz.
5 things you probably don’t know about Joe Ingles, surprise NBA playoff star
His middle name is Howarth.
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
In these playoffs, Ingles is averaging 15.9 points and shooting 0.508 from three-point range. He’s become the silent assassin the Jazz needs, and on Wednesday he torched the Rockets for 27 points while shooting the lights out. The man is living proof that you can peak after the age of 30, which is comforting in these trying times.
Despite all this, there’s more to Ingles than just “dude who came from nowhere.”
His middle name is Howarth.
I really don’t want to give this factoid short shrift. It’s Howarth. His full name is Joseph Howarth Ingles. It’s like a toddler trying to say “Hogwarts.” The internet tells me it’s a semi-common last name in England, but still — Howarth.
Ingles’ hometown team botched signing him so badly he left the city.
The Adelaide 36ers are an Australian basketball institution. Think of them kinda like the San Antonio Spurs — they have that quality to them historically. When Ingles was 17 years old he was a highly-touted player out of the Australian Institute of Sport, and being an Adelaide native it was safe to assume the 36ers would sign him.
Not only did Adelaide offer him just $12,500 a season (at a time the NBL minimum salary was $20,000), but they spelled his name wrong on the contract offer. Ingles was so put off by the offer that he moved to Melbourne, and signed with the South Dragons. He set a rookie scoring record in his first ever game, and went on to win Rookie of the Year.
In Australia he’s the second-most famous Ingles.
That title belongs to Renae Ingles, Joe’s wife. One of the most prominent netball players in Australian history, Renae captained the Australian national team to a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2014, and was International Player of the Year in 2009.
Renae also gave up her incredibly successful career in netball so she could move to Utah and ensure the family were under one roof.
There’s also a horror story about the time Renae traveled from Australia to see Joe play ...
In 2014 Renae was on her way from Australia to Los Angeles to see Joe play following preseason with the Clippers. While she was in the air, Joe got told he’d been waived by the team.
“I was on the team when she took off, and then when she got to the airport, I wasn’t. It was pretty disappointing.”
Thankfully it all worked out in the end.
Joe lets the world know he’s awake by tweeting coffee emojis.
Here’s to Joe Ingles, the dude who had to grind out everything in the NBA and is now getting back everything he deserves.
