Ingles Lauds Australian Rise

The NBA Summer League’s influx of Australian basketball talent has been applauded by NBA veteran, and Boomers star, Joe Ingles.

Ingles was thrilled to see the amount of Australians at Summer League this year, and admitted this was not the case previously.

“Everywhere you walk you bump into an Australian, so it’s pretty cool to where it was 20 years ago,” Ingles told NBL Media.

Ingles has played in the NBA since 2014 when he started with the Utah Jazz. He then moved to the Milwaukee Bucks, and has signed a contract with the Orlando Magic for the upcoming season.

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The 2009 NBL champion, and two-time NBL All-Star, praised the likes of Patty Mills and Andrew Bogut for carving the path for Australians to step foot onto an NBA court.

“Every time you see rosters or teams, there’s always Australians involved," Ingles said. 

“It’s good to see, obviously back in the day when I was young it wasn’t happening like that. [Andrew] Bogut and Patty [Mills] and those guys opened the door a little bit.”

Ingles added he is feeling healthy ahead of the Boomers' World Cup camp, holding no issues over his ACL surgery from early 2022. 

"With my knee, towards the end of the (season) started to feel really good and obviously our season got cut a little short. In terms of my health and my knee, I’m probably at the best spot I have been in the last 12 months," Ingles said.