Joe Ingles is set for a long stint on the sidelines but you won’t find the Aussie NBA superstar feeling sorry for himself.
The man replacing Joe Ingles in the Utah Jazz’s line-up has detailed the Aussie’s selflessness in the face of heartbreaking adversity.
Even with a career-threatening ACL injury, the Adelaide-born big man has made it his mission to keep his teammates in good spirits.
Elsewhere in the NBA on Thursday (AEDT), Boomers captain Patty Mills achieved a new personal best in his 13th NBA season and Aussie rookie Josh Giddey received yet another accolade.
Ingles was helped off the court against the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier this week after suffering an agonising left knee injury. Scans later confirmed he would require surgery and at 34 years of age, a question mark hangs over his playing future.
Trent Forrest, who started for the Jazz in Ingles’ place against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday afternoon (AEDT), said the Aussie’s absence was already being felt.
“I definitely would say it’s been a little different. Just seeing Joe go down like that, and the kind of guy he is for our team, I feel like everyone was emotional about it a little bit,” Forrest said.
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But Forrest said Ingles had refused to feel sorry for himself.
“But Joe’s been in up spirits, lifting usup really,” Forrest said.
“It just speaks to who Joe is as a person. He’s always in the locker room having everyone laughing, talking trash to everybody.
“His personality is going to be missed a lot. He was … the guy that everybody could get along with.”
Aussie teen superstar Giddey was on Thursday named the Western Conference’s Rookie of the Month for the third consecutive month.
Selected by the Oklahoma City Thunder with pick six of the 2021 NBA draft, Giddey has been a revelation in his rookie season.
In January, he broke the NBA record for the youngest player ever to score an NBA triple-double and also holds the record for most double-doubles by a Thunder rookie in history (12).
Giddey’s latest double-double (14 points and 10 assists) came in the Thunder’s 120-114 overtime win over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday. He was only three rebounds shy of his second triple-double of the season.
Giddey on Tuesday was named one of 28 Rising Stars set to play in a mini-tournament on All-Star Weekend later this month.
Only five Aussies – Matthew Dellavedova, Andrew Bogut, Ben Simmons, Dante Exum and Kyrie Irving – have been selected for Rising Star honours before.
Elsewhere, Mills has recorded a new personal-best haul of three-pointers in a season.
In his first season with the Brooklyn Nets, Mills has buried 165 threes, surpassing his previous best of 161 against the Sacramento Kings on Thursday afternoon (AEDT).
As his career has progressed, the Boomers skipper has become known for his precision from beyond the arc. He averages more than three three-pointers per game this season and is the seventh-most accurate player in the league from deep.
The 33-year-old reached 161 in just his 49th game of his 2021/22 campaign, having taken 68 games to make it to the same total last season.
Originally published as ‘He’s lifting us up’: Aussie NBA star Joe Ingles’ inspiring selflessness in the face of injury
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