Through Josh Giddey’s first two seasons in the NBA, he looked like a player that had the ceiling of a potential All-Star. Standing at 6-foot-8 with elite passing skills, he was a day one starter for the Oklahoma City Thunder and created mismatches nearly every night with his size and skillset.
Now in his third season with the Thunder, Giddey still looks phenomenal, but his role looks different. As such, there have been points during the 2023-24 campaign in which he hasn’t looked like himself. There’s been many high points already through 11 games, but also quite a few lows. Whether it be shooting struggles, uncharacteristic turnovers or overall trying to do too much, it was clear that the Australian guard was going to through an adjustment period.
To be fair, Giddey also got off to a slow start last season as well. Through the first 30 contest, he averaged 14.9 points, 5.4 assists and 3.2 turnovers per game. Once the calendar turned to 2023, he closed the season the rest of the way producing 17.7 points, 6.7 assists and only 2.5 turnovers per contest. He also got much more efficient from the floor shooting as the season went on.
Given the fact that Giddey just turned 21 years old last month, struggles shouldn’t be surprising. Although he’s becoming an established player with nearly 4,500 minutes played at the NBA level, he’s still one of the younger players in the league. This should be taken into consideration when evaluating his inconsistent start to this season.
There’s several factors at play here. For starters, Giddey didn’t have a standard offseason. He was the face of Australia’s national team at the 2023 FIBA World Cup, which was a great on-court experience, but meant he had less time to recover. There could be some fatigue due to that situation. Furthermore, he has been asked to play several different roles just in the last nine months.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign with Oklahoma City, he was arguably the team’s second-best player. He played the second most minutes and attempted the second most shots behind only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at 20 years old. From there, he operated as the primary scorer with much more weight on his shoulders with Australia over the summer. From there he re-joined the Thunder, where his role would differ from last season in the NBA as well as FIBA play.
With Chet Holmgren entering the starting lineup, it was clear everything would change. A potentially generational prospect, the 7-footer can absolutely change the game on both ends. Furthermore, he’s the first true center the team has put on the floor in a large role in years. As such, roles across the board would have to change in OKC, as well as some schemes.
Although Giddey is still the same player and can make the same — if not more — impact, the way he goes about it will look different this season.
Giddey to this point has seen fewer shots and minutes per game than last season. It’s not that he’s taken a step back, but there’s more talent on the floor and mouths to feed as it relates to shot distribution. Although Giddey’s overall production is down, he’s starting to figure things out with each passing game. It’s certainly not easy to adapt as quickly as he’s needed to thus far. A team player, he’s been somewhat passive as the team figures out how to best play together.
Through the first eight games of the season, Giddey averaged 12.1 points and 4.5 assists per game. Since that slow start, the Australian guard has produced 13.7 points and 7.3 assists per contest.
There’s no reason to be concerned about Josh Giddey’s start to the season. He’s still 21 years old and one of the brightest young players in the league. Don’t forget, this is the kid that scored 31 points to go along with 10 assists and nine rebounds in a Play-In game against the New Orleans Pelicans just seven months ago.