The Utah Jazz are reversing course and keeping point guard Mike Conley in the starting lineup. The team will instead bench sharpshooter Joe Ingles, according to The Athletic.
After telling players that they were making a starting lineup change, by removing Mike Conley Jr. from the starting five, the Utah Jazz have now decided to instead remove Joe Ingles from the starting lineup, league sources tell The Athletic.
The Jazz are 19-15 with Conley in the lineup and 36-21 overall on the season. Utah is in the fifth spot in the Western Conference standings.
Conley is averaging just 13.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists on the season for the Jazz. He’s shooting only 39.4 percent from the field, 35.2 percent from beyond the arc and 78.4 percent from the free-throw line.
Ingles, the best shooter the Jazz have, is putting up 9.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 5.2 assists on the season. He's shooting 43.0 percent from the floor, 39.3 percent from the 3-point line and 77.9 percent from the charity stripe.
The optics wouldn't have looked good if the Jazz benched Conley. After all, this is a guy making $32,511,623. No matter how bad he's playing, the Jazz had to keep him as a starter to validate their move to get him from the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Jazz host the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. We'll see if the lineup change will help Utah snap its three-game losing streak.
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