No. 3 – When will Joe Ingles be ready for the Milwaukee Bucks?
When the season began, the Milwaukee Bucks had three key players set to miss time with injury: Khris Middleton, Pat Connaughton, and Joe Ingles. The first two have returned from their injuries, leaving one more player in Ingles yet to make his season debut with the team. Of course, this was expected as Ingles is still recovering from a torn ACL he suffered earlier this year. While the Bucks should be nothing but patient with Ingles as he recovers, he could seemingly be back on the floor sooner than some may think.
The initial timeline for Ingles was projected to be sometime in January, but it appears the forward could take the court a bit before them. Bucks assistant coach Mike Dunlap dropped an interesting nugget recently when he included, ‘JI Xmas surprise‘ in a recent tweet of his, hinting that Ingles is potentially gearing up to play by Christmas. Ingles has seemed to be progressing well in his rehab lately, and this tidbit of knowledge seems to suggest that he is getting back up to speed quickly.
There is a reason why the Bucks handed Ingles a $6.5 million contract in free agency despite his ACL injury. The veteran forward has made a living as one of the best 3-point shooters in the NBA, and he is also a great facilitator. Both of those attributes will help the Bucks on impact, giving the coaching regime another interesting player to make room for in the rotation. Of course, the Bucks should absolutely keep Ingles on the sidelines until he is absolutely ready to go, but if he is indeed cleared to come back later this month, it would be the perfect Christmas gift for the Bucks.
Stay tuned for when these questions get answered for the Milwaukee Bucks in the near future.