Joe Ingles' goals with Wolves: Winning and getting Mike Conley a technical foul

Ingles is reuniting with Conley and Rudy Gobert, who he was teammates with in Utah.

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Joe Ingles (7) poses for photos on media day at Target Center in Minneapolis on Sept. 30, 2024. / Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Joe Ingles joining the Timberwolves was a couple years in the making.

Ingles was talking with Minnesota when he was a free agent after the 2022-23 season before ultimately signing a two-year deal with the Orlando Magic. That was in large part because his son, Jacob, has autism, and Ingles knew of a school in Orlando that had really positive reviews that he believed would be the best place for him as he was starting school.

"It ended up being the right decision because he loves the school he's at, so we did make the right decision," Ingles said. "We're going to be Orlando natives for a long time, I think, now with what he enjoys there and then my other kids."

But when the Magic declined Ingles' option for the 2024-25 season, the opportunity with the Timberwolves came around again. This time, Ingles couldn't pass up on the opportunity to reunite with Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert, particularly after seeing the team's postseason success. Ingles signed a one-year deal with the Timberwolves in early July.

"Just a pretty cool opportunity, and obviously dating back to the year before as well where there was some interest, so wasn't just a pop-up thing that randomly happened, and yeah, really excited to be here and now obviously be a part of this group going forward and hoping to do some good things with them," Ingles said.

It won't be without sacrifice. Ingles will be away from his family, who will be in Orlando while Ingles is competing in Minnesota with the Wolves. But Ingles is at a point in his career where he wants to win. He's the oldest player on the Timberwolves roster — beating out Conley by just over a week — and will take on whatever role helps the team win.

"For me, it's about winning. It's not about me individually," he said. "It's about being in a good, fun situation and winning."

It helps that Ingles already has some chemistry with the likes of Gobert and Conley, who he played with on the Utah Jazz. Ingles even has some brief experience with coach Chris Finch — Ingles said the two took turns yelling at each other when Finch coached the English national team and Ingles was playing for Australia, which he called a "wonderful experience."

Ingles brings veteran experience to the Timberwolves and will provide spacing as a knock-down 3-point shooter who's hit at a 41% clip from deep for his career. He shot 43.5% from 3 last season. Conley — while noting he's no longer the oldest player on the team — touted Ingles' basketball knowledge and the way he's able to leverage his abilities. Finch described Ingles as an "outstanding decision-maker, playmaker (and) pick-and-roll player in particular."

"On the court, he's not super athletic or anything, but he understands how to get by guys and use gravity to his advantage and people's spacing and different things like that, how to get the ball to bigs, find guys when they're open," Conley said. "... Like everything about his game is built towards his brain and how he can utilize that and kind of be smarter than you."

In addition to being a sharpshooter, it's clear the Timberwolves believe Ingles can thrive in playmaking roles off the bench, something they didn't always have last season. What exactly his role ends up being won't come entirely into focus for a little while yet, but Ingles doesn't care whether it's significant or warming the bench. His only goal is to win games.

Well, he may have one other goal: Ingles wants to get Conley the first technical foul of his career.

"Just make sure every referee knows. That's literally my biggest goal this year," Ingles said.