Joe Ingles summer vacation
The NBA off-season has become a spectacle in its own right. It’s a time to turn your Adrian Wojnarowski tweet notifications on and enjoy the pettiness of NBA players across social media. Those rare players who choose to stay away from social media feuds resort to calling out other players during interviews from the stands in summer league, in between signing some of the largest contracts in world sport.
There’s always a lot to keep up with during the month of July, and the Australian boys certainly haven’t disappeared off quietly into their holidays either, with some big money contracts making noise around the league. Fresh off one of the most successful seasons in the NBA by Australian players, we ranked the top 5 players having the best off-seasons.
Honourable Mention: Matthew Dellavedova
Delly looked to have it all at the start of the 2016-17 season. He was fresh off signing a $38 million contract with the Bucks, had recently got engaged and was releasing his first signature shoe later that year.
But things didn’t turn out too well. Delly was a pretty big disappointment for the Bucks on the court and he took a massive L with the release of his old man shoes. He obviously didn’t disappoint his fiancé however, as he got married just last week – but that’s just not enough to make it onto our list this year.
5. Ben Simmons
Ben Simmons had the opportunity to be much higher up on this list because he's looking at being given the keys to one of the rising squads in the NBA. Simmons missed all of his rookie season with a broken foot but he’s ready to go this season, and the 76ers look to be a big chance to break their five season playoff drought with him back in the fold.
The reason Simmons is so low on this list is that he’s messed with the NBA’s new first family. Yep, Simmons managed to piss off the Ball family with a draft day tweet – and don’t think for a minute that they’ll ever forget it. If Simmons gets crossed up by Lonzo in his fresh ZO2 Sho’Times, don’t think the internet will ever let him forget it either.
4. Jonah Bolden
It was always going to be a good off-season for Bolden. His stock continued to rise the closer we got to the draft and he was eventually taken with the 36th pick, joining Simmons as a fellow 76er. The most exciting part of all this? Bolden has genuinely been bossing summer league, producing highlights like this.
It’s fair to say he’s someone to keep an eye on throughout the year, even though it does appear that he may be plying his trade over in the Euroleague next season.
Hopefully Bolden's stellar summer league form transfers over to his club form next season. But then again, if he continues to stay grounded by retweeting inspirational DJ Khaled quotes all day, he’ll make it to the top in no time.
3. Aron Baynes
+1 for signing with the second-best team in the Eastern Conference.
-1 for having the worst facial hair/man-bun combo on the planet.
Baynes left $2 million dollars of guaranteed money on the table when he left Detroit to join the Celtics. If you factor in the Celtics’ prospects of contending for the Eastern Conference championship this season and the fact that Baynes will no longer have to face the wrath of the OG below, it looks to be a wise decision.
2. Joe Ingles
Joe got PAID. $52 million over four years is an awful lot of money for a babysitter. It’s an incredible story for a guy who was brought into the fold to look after young draftee Dante Exum, who he now earns $10 million a season more than. It’s a life-changing payday for a guy who bounced around Europe after leaving the NBL when he was just 22.
Also, Ingles did this in the playoffs.
He deserves every dime of his contract for that alone.
1. Patty Mills
Signing a $50 million contract can do a lot of things for a guy. Mills is now the 4th highest earner on the Spurs roster and may fall into a starting role by virtue of Tony Parker’s injury issues. Yes, his contract is worth $2 million less over the life of it than Joe Ingles’, but he’s still earning nearly $240K a week, so we don't think he minds.
Patty makes it to the top of the rankings because his contract is with the Spurs and if you’re just tuning in, this season was the 18th consecutive 50-win season under Gregg Popovich – which is also the NBA record. You could put money on it happening again next season, so hopefully, we’ll be seeing Mills deep in June yet again.
He also got to go 1v4 against some bikini-clad models to promote his girlfriend Alyssa Levesque’s new brand Strait Swim.
Shooters shoot, we guess.