Harrison Ingram Is Making Utah Jazz’s Roster Decision Much Harder

Harrison Ingram took the Utah Jazz’s roster crunch personally.

Two months ago, Ingram looked like one of the easiest names to circle when trying to figure out how Utah would eventually trim its roster. His reported Exhibit 10 deal offered no guarantee that he would survive training camp, and the Jazz had plenty of established options ahead of him.

There was always one complication.

If Ingram played well enough, Utah might actually have to think about it.

That possibility is starting to look a little less hypothetical … and a little more inconvenient.

Ingram received only 7:35 in Tuesday’s 117-106 preseason loss to the Denver Nuggets. He somehow squeezed nine points, five rebounds and two assists into it, shooting 3-of-5 from the field while finishing plus-five.

Three of those rebounds came on the offensive glass.

That followed a quieter but productive preseason opener in which Ingram scored six points in 12 minutes. Through two appearances, he has now scored 15 points in less than 20 total minutes.

None of that guarantees him anything.

Twenty minutes of preseason basketball should not erase the realities that made Ingram vulnerable entering camp. Utah has a crowded wing rotation, several younger players already carrying larger organizational investments and only so many regular-season opportunities available.

But cutting Ingram might not be quite as painless as it once appeared.

The scoring helps. The rest of Tuesday’s performance — the rebounding, ball movement and extra possessions — might matter more.

Ingram did not need touches drawn up for him to make an impact. He attacked the offensive glass, moved the ball and found ways to create extra possessions during a stretch when plenty around him had already become disjointed.

That is the kind of production that matters near the bottom of a roster … especially when there are not many minutes available in the first place.

It is also almost exactly the scenario Utah knew was possible.

When the Jazz signed Ingram this summer, he was coming off a strong G League season in which he averaged 16.8 points, 12.3 rebounds and five assists. The question was whether any of that production would carry into training camp and the preseason.

So far, Ingram is making that question harder to dismiss.

He still has work to do, and Utah does not need to manufacture a roster spot because of one strong fourth-quarter cameo in October.

But the Jazz wanted competition at the bottom of the roster.

They may have gotten more of it than they planned for.

Ingram entered camp looking like one of the simplest solutions to Utah’s numbers problem.

His job now is to make sure cutting him becomes anything but simple.