The Utah Jazz have agreed to a one-year, $14 million contract extension with wing Joe Ingles. On a day full of deals, this one might be the most cost-effective.
On a day full of contract extensions before the NBA‘s Oct. 21 deadline, the Utah Jazz wound up giving out perhaps the most reasonable deal of the bunch.
According to ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Jazz have agreed to a one-year, $14 million extension with Joe Ingles, keeping him in Utah through the 2021-22 NBA season. Ingles is owed $12 million for the upcoming season, as well as $10.9 million for 2020-21.
This deal tacks on an extra year, keeping him in Salt Lake City for at least three more seasons.
Over the weekend, the Toronto Raptors rewarded a four-year, $130 million extension to Pascal Siakam. On Monday, Buddy Hield got a four-year, $86 million deal from the Sacramento Kings that could add an extra $20 million based on incentives, while the Boston Celtics gave a four-year, $115 million to Jaylen Brown.
Domantas Sabonis and Dejounte Murray were great value plays for their teams, at $74.9 million and $64 million over four years, respectively, and Taurean Prince was a pretty cheap extension, picking up a $29 million deal over two years from the Brooklyn Nets.
However, Ingles was the most cost-effective of the bunch. That makes sense for an underrated two-way player, compared to young franchise cornerstones like most of those other names, but the value of having such a useful piece locked up at that kind of bargain price shouldn’t be overlooked.
Last season, “Jingles” put up a career-high 12.1 points, a career-high 5.7 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game. He only shot 44.8 percent from the floor, but made 39.1 percent of his career-high 5.9 3-point attempts per game.
In addition to his shooting, Ingles provides stout defense and secondary playmaking from the wing. He’s an intelligent player and even though he just turned 32 years old, his game isn’t reliant on athleticism. That means the Jazz have him locked up for the rest of his prime/imminent twilight.
Even as he transitions to a sixth man role this season, this is particularly helpful for a team that will have a lot of decisions to make in the summer of 2021. That’s the last possible season Mike Conley will be in Utah (assuming he’s on the books for $34.5 million in 2020-21 by not exercising his early termination option), as well as the summer Donovan Mitchell is due for a rookie extension and when Rudy Gobert, Dante Exum and Ed Davis come off the books.
Having Ingles onboard for an extra season beyond that summer of big decisions ensures the Jazz won’t have too many difficult choices to make in 2021 free agency. It’s also a gesture of goodwill cementing a fruitful relationship between player and team, so this is a win-win all around.