Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles is one of the NBA’s most under-appreciated, trash-talking, fight-starting, drain-a-three-in-your-face-and-whisper-sweet-nothings-to-you-about-it players of all time. The 6’8 Jazz forward has a doughy build and the face of a non-athletic passerby, which makes his brashness all the more hilarious and unexpected. It’s why Utah loves him.
Joe Ingles is somehow the NBA’s best trash talker
The Australian doesn’t care who is in his path, he’s going to speak his mind.
Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports
In a 100-94 win over the Pistons Monday night, Ingles had all of his greatest hits on display. After he was called for an offensive foul on Blake Griffin, Ingles had a chat with the Detroit big on his way back down the floor.
You can clearly see that he called him a “flopper.”
But Ingles doesn’t just live for the quick, tell-him-off strike-backs. He needed to deliver a finishing blow.
In the final seconds of a close game, he sought blood, draining a dagger three and following it with a blown kiss to rowdy Pistons fans behind him.
This is what Utah’s smack-talking Aussie does
A quick search on Google brought me to a Reddit page which simply posed the question “Can someone clarify to me why /r/NBA loves Joe Ingles?”
The best response was this:
He looks like the Jazz were short a player and had to draft the janitor in, except the janitor was tall as shit and had a sweet three pointer.
That’s pretty much it, which amplifies just how fun a personality he has.
There was the time he looked Jusuf Nurkic straight in the eyes and told him “I’m shooting it.”
(He did and made it.)
The time he played into James Harden’s jerk move of invading Utah’s huddle.
I bet Harden didn’t see that coming.
The time he threw a towel at someone on the sidelines.
Always have to be on the lookout with Ingles around.
The time in the playoffs where he started beef with Paul George
Ingles was in Paul George’s face for the entirety of the playoff series, and got a step too close on an inbounds play. PG shoved him back and started a scuffle:
Vintage Ingles, getting under everyone’s skin.
And the mother of all, the iconic Headband Joe night.
After taking an elbow to the face, our janitor-esque pro bled from above his eye and needed to be stitched up.
So he came back like this:
And it didn’t stop his flow at all:
Ingles is a true cult hero. He’s simultaneously a protagonist and antagonist, which makes his place in the league so special.
You can’t predict “Jinglin’ Joe”.
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