There were rumors of offers coming from Orlando — and maybe elsewhere — that would make it hard for Utah to keep the sharpshooter.
However, Utah stepped up and the sides reached a deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Restricted free agent Joe Ingles is finalizing a deal to return to the Utah Jazz, Ingles tells ESPN. https://t.co/Jf0IgYSfpl
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 2, 2017
Ingles deal: 4 years, $52M, source says. https://t.co/yW7MF2zmSu
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 2, 2017
That’s still a fair amount of money for a guy who turns 30 before the season starts. He is a strong outside shooter, and he’s a plus team defender.
What matters more is he’s one of Gordon Hayward’s best friends on the team. With Utah moving on from George Hill but fighting to keep Hayward, they had to pony up on Ingles. We’ll see if that ends up mattering.