Their styles could hardly be more different.
Pistol Pete Maravich was as flashy a ballhandler and passer the game has ever seen, the kind of player you couldn’t take your eyes off for fear you’d miss something spectacular.
Joe Ingles, meanwhile, has heard every joke there is about his countenance on the basketball court and the way his game seems to lull teams to sleep.
In either case, defenders have blinked at their own risk over the years.
With a pass to Rudy Gobert in the first quarter Monday night, Ingles dished out the 1,845th assist of his careering, passing the famed Maravich for the seventh most assists in Jazz history.
“Pistol Pete is such an icon,” Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said. “He’s one of those players whose photograph you see in the facility or the arena and he clearly had such an impact on the game over a period of years. I know how much Joe respects him.”
Ingles, however, has never been one to focus on personal accolades and records.
“I also know Joe’s really thinking about our team and working on his game,” Snyder said. “Usually when you do that, the results happen. He’s been passing the ball so well. It’s certainly emblematic of the career he’s had here and how unselfish he’s been. I know that’s not something he’s striving for, in and of itself, but certainly it shows what an effective player he’s been and how unselfish he is.”
Ingles’ assists have been spread out over 42 different teammates during his time with the Jazz.
His favorite targets?
- Rudy Gobert — 386
- Derrick Favors — 276
- Donovan Mitchell — 180
- Gordon Hayward — 105
- Ricky Rubio — 95
- Bojan Bogdanovic — 81
- Jae Crowder — 76
- Royce O’Neale — 65
- Dante Exum — 46
- Jordan Clarkson — 37
Ingles is averaging 4.7 dimes per game this season, putting him on pace to pass Nos. 5 and 6 on the Jazz all-time list — Jeff Hornacek (1,895) and Andrei Kirilenko (1,919) — before year’s end.
Catching up to John Stockton’s NBA record 15,806 assists would take a little longer than that.