The Portland Trail Blazers haven’t had an Australian on the roster since Patty Mills left 11 years ago. That’s more than a decade of watching and writing about this team without being able to cheer for one of my own countrymen.
Enter Adelaide’s favorite (OK, so today we’ll spell it favourite) son, Joe Ingles, dealt from the Utah Jazz to the Blazers at the trade deadline as he convalesces from a knee injury that will see him out until at least 2023.
Whether he ever pulls on a Blazers jersey depends on what happens during the coming Australian winter (free agency), but Interim General Manager Joe Cronin has already talked about how fond he is of Ingles and his Bird rights.