Ingles may not play, but he is confident in his teammates.
The Minnesota Timberwolves closed out the regular season Sunday with a 132-126 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, and the mood inside Target Center felt like a team that knows where it stands.
Minnesota finishes 49-33 as the sixth seed in the Western Conference, and a first-round date with the third-seeded Denver Nuggets awaits Saturday at Ball Arena.
After the final buzzer, veteran forward Joe Ingles summed up where the group is at heading into the postseason.
"It's obviously nice for us to lock up that fifth or sixth now and get healthy," Ingles said. "We're going confident. We've got this week or five, six days… The guys will be ready and it should be a bit of fun."
Ingles Keeps the Locker Room Together
Ingles isn't going to fill up a box score at this stage of his career, and everybody on the roster knows that.
The 38-year-old Australian has appeared in just 12 games this season, averaging around four minutes a night.
But what he provides behind the scenes is something the Timberwolves clearly believe they can't get from anybody else.
Teammates and coaches have praised Ingles all year for his ability to connect with every player in the locker room, from Anthony Edwards to the end of the bench.
He pulls guys aside when they're frustrated, keeps the energy loose when things get tight, and brings an intelligence that head coach Chris Finch has leaned on in late-game situations all season.
It's not the flashiest role, but Minnesota bringing him back on a minimum deal for a second straight year tells you how much they value what he does.
Why Minnesota Can Upset Denver Again
The Nuggets finished at 54-28 and won the season series 3-1, which on paper makes Denver a clear favorite.
Nikola Jokic led the league in both assists and rebounds per game this season, and the Nuggets boasted the best offense in basketball for much of the year.
But Minnesota has a few things working in its favor. Anthony Edwards put together a career-best regular season, averaging 28.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists across 61 games.
He missed time late with right knee maintenance, but all signs point to him being ready for Game 1 on April 18.
Edwards has been a different player in the postseason over the past two years, averaging 26.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.0 assists across 31 playoff games while helping Minnesota reach the Western Conference Finals in back-to-back seasons.
Then there's the defensive identity.
Rudy Gobert anchored things all year with 10.9 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game across 76 starts, and Jaden McDaniels gives them a versatile defender who can switch across multiple positions.
This is a deep, experienced roster that has been through the playoff grind before and came out better each time.
Denver will have home court and the best player in the series in Jokic.
But Minnesota has the confidence and rest that Ingles was talking about, and with Edwards healthy, the Timberwolves aren't showing up as underdogs in their own minds.