Joe Ingles Remains One Of The NBA's Premier Trash Talkers

Plodding Australian floor-spacer Joe Ingles is part of what makes a weird Utah Jazz team tick. He’s the only above average shooter in the Jazz’s best five-man lineup—a group that’s killing teams on both ends of the court. But his most important contribution to his team might be his uninterrupted stream of quality trash talk.

Ingles has never been one to back down on defense, and that attitude has, thankfully, extended beyond his basketball interactions. Like any prideful defender, Ingles loves to worm his way under the skin of his mark, and as Paul George would confirm, it must be annoying as shit to play against. Ingles spent an entire playoff game talking smack with George last season, and afterwards had this to say about it, “It’s great, I love it. Hope we do it again.” The man’s an irritant.

In the past month alone, he tried to start shit with Russell Westbrook, banged one over Draymond Green then yelled at him, and clowned Jusuf Nurkic on the perimeter. During last night’s win over the Pistons, Ingles was on yet again, first calling Blake Griffin out for flopping...

...then coolly blowing a kiss to some overactive fans after icing the game. This came mere weeks after Donovan Mitchell also went after some heckling Pistons fans in the Jazz’s road win.

The Utah Jazz are on a nice little run here as their brutal schedule has finally eased up and they get to actually spend a some time in Salt Lake City in 2019. May Joe Ingles keep trying to incite increasingly audacious beefs as Utah climbs the Western Conference standings.