The Golden State Warriors had a strange 2009 summer league. It was Stephen Curry's NBA rookie year, and he was the fourth-leading scorer on that squad. He averaged 17.4 points during his stint in Las Vegas. Anthony Randolph, Anthony Morrow, and Cartier Martin all put up 20-plus points per game.
All four players spent time with the Warriors in the regular season, and all three non-Curry players are currently out of the NBA. However, there's one player from that roster the Warriors would love to have on the team now: Utah Jazz Sixth Man of the Year candidate Joe Ingles.
After playing professionally for several years in Australia's National Basketball League, the Aussie made his first trip to the NBA as an undrafted rookie in 2009. He played for the Warriors' summer league squad. He played back-to-back summers with the Warriors, pursuing his NBA dream.
The year he played with Curry, Ingles played significant minutes but failed to impress the front office. He averaged just 3.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 25.5 minutes per game while shooting a woeful 20% from the field. The following year, expectations and opportunities decreased for Ingles. He registered 1.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 0.5 assists in only 16.7 minutes per game while shooting 20% once again.
After failing to make the Warriors in 2009, the Australian played internationally again. He played for CB Granada in the Spanish ACB league, where he averaged 11.0 points on 43.8% shooting from the field and 35.2% from deep in his first season. After again failing to make the Warriors in 2010, the lefty returned to CB Granada but then transferred to FC Barcelona, where he played until 2013. His next stop was Maccabi Tel-Aviv. He won a EuroLeague championship with future Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt on the Israeli club.
That got Ingles on the Los Angeles Clippers' radar, and he joined them for the preseason in 2014. He was then signed by the Jazz for the regular season after the Clippers waived him and made his NBA debut in the 2014-15 season. He appeared in 79 games and made 32 starts as a rookie.
The 2014-15 season, of course, was also the Warriors' first championship of the Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green era. Just imagine if Ingles had actually impressed during summer league with the Dubs and wound up being a part of that core. Of course, things could have gone in a totally different direction if he had stayed with the Warriors, but his skill set would have been ideal next to the stars. What if it had all worked out? There's a reason the Dubs reportedly still have interest in him in 2021.
It's not how things happened, but things have worked out pretty well for the Warriors and Ingles. The Dubs have won multiple rings since that summer league, and Ingles is helping the Jazz become contenders. Now at 33 years old, the veteran is one of the best bench players and shooters in the NBA. If it wasn't for teammate Jordan Clarkson, Ingles might have won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2021. Ingles averaged a career-best 12.1 points on 48.9% shooting from the field and 45.1% from downtown.
It wound up being a happy ending for both parties, even though the Warriors let a good one slip away.
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