The crowd cheers as Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch puts Joe Ingles into the game against the Utah Jazz at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. Ingles played with the Jazz from 2014-2022.
| Laura Seitz, Deseret News A little over six years ago now, Joe and Renae Ingles shared publicly that their son Jacob had been diagnosed with autism.Joe Ingles was playing for the Utah Jazz then, and in the years since, the couple has publicly advocated in word and deed for people with autism.Joe Ingles has since played for the Milwaukee Bucks, Orlando Magic and now the Minnesota Timberwolves, and his family has been a pretty regular presence at games, though Jacob Ingles hasn’t been able to make it through an entire game in the stands at an arena — until last Sunday when, perhaps ironically, the Timberwolves faced the Jazz.
Renae, Jacob and the rest of the Ingles family (Jacob has a twin sister named Milla and there is a younger son named Jack) still live in Orlando but took a trip up to Minnesota. While Renae Ingles documented the “milestone night” for her family of Jacob making it through the game, Joe Ingles didn’t play, which was not all that surprising given that he’s only played in 19 of the Timberwolves’ 72 games so far this season.But on Friday night, Minnesota head coach Chris Finch made perhaps a surprising move.
Not only did he put Ingles into a game for the first time since Feb. 24, but he put him in the starting lineup for the fi.
