Exclusive: Joe Ingles Says Coming Back To Salt Lake City Will Be Emotional

SALT LAKE CITY – Former Jazzman and current Milwaukee Buck Joe Ingles joined DJ and PK on the KSL Sports Zone to talk about his upcoming return to Salt Lake City.

From 2014-2022, Joe Ingles played in a Utah Jazz jersey. After the team decided to move on from the core centered around Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, Ingles made his way to the next stop in his NBA career.

Joe Ingles To Return To Vivint On Friday

Ingles is ready to return to Vivint Arena and face off against the Jazz. It will be his first regular-season game in Salt Lake City as a visitor.

“It will be weird and different,” Ingles said. “I’ve been in the away locker room once with the Clippers when I first came for a preseason game in 2014. There will be a lot of different emotions.”

After suffering a knee injury in the second half of the 2021-2022 season, Ingles played less than 65 games for the first time in his career. The injury paired with the change of scenery put Ingles in undiscovered territory.

“When you first go through an injury like that,” Ingles said. “Once you get over the disappointment, the frustration, and the anger, you get away from it all. You dive into what’s next. We have a great team. A billion different (Physical Therapists), (Physiologists), and doctors were involved.”

🚨 JOE INGLES BUZZER BEATER!! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/nGqUBwCg5D

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) March 23, 2023

From Utah To Milwaukee

When Ingles was deciding where he wanted to sign, the highest priority was finding an area where his family can thrive. Ingles said he turned down larger contracts to sign where his kids could get quality schooling.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t lose a lot of sleep and have a ton of stress,” Ingles said. “You learn how resilient your kids are. A lot went into it. You go in a little bit blind. But, life has been good here. I drop (off) the kids, go into practice, come home, pick the kids up.”

Ingles feels he made the right decision by signing with Milwaukee. The Bucks are currently the 1-seed in the Eastern Conference and are poised to make a deep playoff run.

“The organizations been great,” Ingles said. “The players have been great from day one. As dark as it looked for a little while, it has been a really good spot for us. On court is starting to feel like it’s working out (too).”

Joe Ingles is 5/5 from downtown ‼️

Bucks lead 108-103 with 1:28 left on ABC pic.twitter.com/lvPvhOL3Sg

— NBA (@NBA) March 12, 2023

Championship Pedigree

Milwaukee won an NBA championship in 2021. There are still six players on the roster that were a part of that team. Ingles said that the team’s goal is to do it again.

“Super motivating,” Ingles said. “Those guys know what it takes. They know what it feels like and they want it again. We’ve got some unreal players and (Budenholzer) is a great coach. At the end of the day, it’s purely about winning.”

Chandler Holt is a Digital Sports Producer for KSLSports.com, specializing in all things basketball and football. Follow Chandler on Twitter at @ChandlerHoltKSL.

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