Back to the Real Salt Lake Newsfeed

Thousands of miles away and five years removed from a remarkable championship in Europe, ‘brothers’ Joe Ingles and Shawn James are reunited in Utah

Upon arriving in Israel nearly six years ago, having just signed a deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv, Joe Ingles didn’t know much about his new home.

In an introductory video for his new club, Ingles, along with fellow Maccabi new signing Tyrese Rice, was quizzed about Tel Aviv landmarks, population, the name of his team’s president, and more. Ingles was stumped on most of it, wildly guessing on others. But there was one question he knew the answer to right away: who was his team’s captain?

It was the start of a friendship, one that became a brotherhood through one remarkable season and one unforeseeable reunion in Salt Lake City, where Ingles is now a standout for the Jazz and James works as a Salt Lake City Stars basketball operations assistant.