How son's tears nearly ended Joe Ingles' Aussie return

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When Joe and Renae Ingles’ son Jacob walked into the family’s new Melbourne home and burst into tears, dad and mum feared they’d made the wrong decision, writes Code Sports reporter Michael Randall.

Jacob, 10, is autistic and his experience of even the smallest change in routine can be overwhelming.

This one was seismic. As disruptive and difficult as you could imagine.

Joe’s decorated 12-season NBA career had come to an end and the family had uprooted their lives from Orlando and packed their bags for Australia, where the 38-year-old will suit up with the NBL’s Melbourne United, this season.

The Ingles tried to prepare Jacob as best they could but, as the door swung open to family photos on the wall, reality truly sank in – and it was too much.

“The conversations with Jacob were tough, we’d explained it as clearly as you can, like, ‘Hey, this is what we’re doing, this is where we’re going, we’ll have a new house,’” Joe Ingles says.

“I’ll never forget it when we walked into our house. Renae had got it turnkey ready to make it as comfortable as possible with all his things in his bedroom, his bed, his favourite sheets, everything set up.

“Jacob started crying immediately and that was that first moment for him of like, ‘Oh no, we’re staying here. I’m not going back to Orlando, I’m not going back to my school in Orlando’, where he was obviously super comfortable. It sank in.”

They didn’t directly say it to each other at the time, but one look into each others’ eyes and it was clear both knew there was a chance their Australian reset could have been over before it began.

For the full story on Code Sports Basketball, click here.