Who is Australian basketball star and Los Angeles Clippers recruit, Joe Ingles?

HE’S come from the clouds to snare a spot on an NBA roster and he’s marrying one of our most famous sportswomen. So just who is Joe Ingles?

NBL. South Dragons v Illawarra Hawks at Vodafone Arena. Joe Ingles drives past Glen Saville

HE’S come from the clouds to snare a spot on an NBA roster and he’s marrying one of our most famous sportswomen. So just who is Joe Ingles?

A DEBUT TO REMEMBER

Anyone who was there to witness Ingles’ NBL debut for the South Dragons as an 18-year-old in 2006 is probably wondering why he wasn’t hot NBA property before now.

That night against New Zealand he dropped 29 points on 11 of 15 shooting, including four out of five from beyond the three-point line.

MORE:Boomer Ingles signs one-year deal with Clippers

They were insane numbers from a kid, and he went on to win that season’s NBL Rookie of the Year award.

WEDDING BELLS ARE RINGING

Luckiest girl.... I get to call @joeingles7 my fiancé! X pic.twitter.com/TaDtY0QHRQ

— Renae Hallinan (@RenaeHallinan) August 6, 2014

They’ve done the long distance thing for years, so Ingles moving to LA will be nothing new for the recently engaged basketballer and his equally gifted fiance, Renae Hallinan.

The Melbourne Vixens and Australian Diamonds star announced the pair’s engagement in early August, just days after she captured gold at the Commonwealth Games.

OUR FIRST GOLDEN STAR

Ingles played for two years in the NBA Summer League but couldn’t quite manage to break in at Golden State.

Andrew Bogut wasn’t the first Aussie to arrive at NBA franchise Golden State Warriors.

Three years before Bogut reached California after starting his NBA career in Milwaukee, a kid by the name of Joe Ingles plied his trade for the Warriors in the 2009 NBA Summer League.

Unfortunately he didn’t exactly set the court alight, averaging just 3.2 points at 20 per cent accuracy in his five games.

He returned the following year but fared worse, scoring just 1.8 points per game and again missing out on an NBA contract.

THE REIGN IN SPAIN

Ingles spent three years at FC Barcelona.

Having signed with Spanish club CB Granada in 2009, Ingles transferred to European heavyweight Barcelona in 2010 and stuck around for three years.

While he didn’t post huge numbers (five points, 4.3 points and six points per game in each year, respectively), his prodigious accuracy returned and caught the eye of other European clubs.

THE YEAR OF HIS LIFE

This time last year, Ingles had just signed to play with Israeli Super League team Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Now he’s a Euroleague champion, after helping the team win it’s first European title since 2005.

HE COULD’VE GONE EARLIER

Ingles played alongside NBA star Marc Gasol at Barcelona, and impressed the Spaniard so much that Gasol implored his Memphis Grizzlies coaches to get the Aussie on board in 2013.

But Ingles had his own ideas, and opted to stay an extra year in Europe. Fair to say that’s worked out kind of well for him.

AN INTERNATIONAL BEAST

Joe Ingles turns it on at the London Olympics.

Put Ingles in the green and gold and watch out.

He caught the eye of NBA scouts when he poured in 11 points in one quarter against the USA at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, then averaged more than 10 points per game two years later at the FIBA World Championship.

At the London Olympics only Patty Mills outscored him among the Aussies, with Ingles netting 15 points, five rebounds and 4.2 assists per game.

He again shone at this year’s World Cup, averaging 11 points a game a ridiculous 69.7 per cent accuracy, and did enough to impress the LA Clippers, who were quick to gobble him up.

WINGS CLIPPED OR SET TO SOAR?

Matt Barnes will be one of Ingles’ main stumbling blocks when it comes to court time at the Clippers.

The Clippers will have the full complement of 15 players on their roster next year, and how Ingles fits into that rotation remains to be seen.

As a forward/guard, he’ll be up agains the likes of ageing veteran Matt Barnes, who averaged almost 10 points a game last season, Chris Douglas-Roberts, who’s just come across from Charlotte, last year’s draft pick Reggie Bullock and even “Big Baby” Glen Davis, who hasn’t always seen eye to eye with coach Doc Rivers since switching from Orlando last season.

He won’t be taking court time off the likes of Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, but if his shooting gets hot, he could potentially become the kind of damaging impact player the Clippers need if they’re to progress beyond the conference semi-finals, where Oklahoma City stopped them last season.

Originally published as Who is Australian basketball star and Los Angeles Clippers recruit, Joe Ingles?