How Australia’s Basketball Resources Paved The Way For Josh Giddey

After two seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, it’s clear that Josh Giddey was a fantastic draft selection. He’s already one of the best passers in the league and is the perfect fit in the modern NBA with his positional size. However, when the Thunder drafted Giddey with the No. 6 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, it was somewhat of a surprise. Most talent evaluators had him pinned as a lottery selection, but very few guessed he would go just outside of the top five.

Evaluating international prospects is extremely difficult, as the path to the NBA is quite a bit different than the standard route in the states. While Giddey didn’t grow up playing in the United States on the top AAU circuits like the majority of his draft class, his upbringing was the perfect incubator for developing the player that has emerged as one of the brightest young stars in the NBA.

Born in Australia, Giddey grew up with the mentorship of two parents that played professionally. Furthermore, he was put on a promising development path with the resources that the top Australian prospects now have the luxury of leveraging. The Center of Excellence, formerly known as the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) has been around since the 80s, but has more recently become an even better talent development hub with the addition of the NBA Academy, which is under the same roof. This is where the top Australian talent, as well as prospects from from Africa, Latin America, Europe and other places come to train on their path to the NBA.

Australian basketball as a whole has really emerged over the past decade. Not only is the NBL an extremely popular league, but the country itself has produced numerous NBA talents. In fact, the Australian team will have 10 NBA players on its 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup roster, Giddey included. Those that came before the Thunder guard helped pave the way for his development through inspiration and leadership.

One of Giddey’s coaches this summer in the upcoming FIBA event is David Patrick, who is one of the most influential basketball figures to ever come out of Australia. He points to a few key current NBA players as the inspiration that has helped spark this new wave of Aussie talent.

“When you see somebody like Patty Mills, who was the flag bearer for Australia at the last Olympics and you see a Matt Dellavedova and a Joe Ingles — when you see those guys, especially Patty and Delly, win NBA championships — as a just a local Australian kid you think man I can make it into the NBA,” Patrick told me. “Then you back that up with seeing Ben Simmons be the No. 1 pick in the draft, so now you see this is doable. Well when you see those guys kind of make it and the the ability to watch more on TV, because there’s so many streams playing in the NBA now, the kids can see it now and and aspire to be there.“

Making it to the NBA takes more than just inspiration and the right people surrounding you. For Giddey specifically, the Center of Excellence and the NBA Academy were key drivers in him becoming the player he is today. He was always one of the top prospects in Australia, even before leading his academy team to an international junior basketball tournament championship in Barcelona in 2020.

Again, both of Giddey’s parents were spectacular players in the NBL, which is the top professional league in Australia. His father, Warrick Giddey, actually played a similar style to what we’ve seen from Josh to this point.

“He was a phenomenal passer and a tough, tough, tough dude. I think his dad played rugby league or basketball professionally,” said Patrick, who played with Warrick during his time as an athlete.

In fact, the facilitation prowess and IQ that the Thunder guard plays with resembles his father. A huge reason that Giddey has emerged as a young player that processes the game at such a high level is because he grew up with a father that had similar traits.

“I think he’s always had the feel. He’s got a unique feel for the game. And so did his dad,” Patrick told me. “So Josh has been around it his whole life and he’s been around a pro environment as all life, so I think he’s a he’s a product of that.

At the age of 17, Giddey’s career was really about to take off. While he did strongly consider taking his talents to the traditional college game, boasting several offers from schools like Colorado and Arizona, he opted to stay home to participate in the NBL’s Next Stars program, joining the Adelaide 36ers at 17 years old. This is an up and coming program that before Giddey sent players like LaMelo Ball to the NBA.

Giddey has previously mentioned that he was nearly dead set on taking the college route, but was ultimately swayed by Jeremy Loeliger, the CEO of the NBL, to remain in Australia to gain a year of experience playing at the professional level against adults.

Following a stellar season with the 36ers, Giddey declared for the 2021 NBA Draft and immediately gained interest all throughout the league. Standing at 6-foot-8 as a point guard made him an extremely unique prospect. Leading up to his draft, Giddey played for the Australian national senior team, becoming youngest player to play for the team since Ben Simmons in 2013. Although he didn’t make the team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he was selected as an alternate which was extremely impressive for a player of his age.

Just days before the 2021 NBA Draft, Thunder GM Sam Presti and coach Mark Daigneault flew out to Los Angeles for a last minute private workout with Giddey. He performed extremely well, which led to the team taking him sixth overall. He’s since put together two of the most productive seasons of any young player in Thunder history and looks to be a key piece of the core moving forward.

Although Giddey’s path to the NBA was somewhat unique, Presti and his staff were diligent in ensuring they got the right evaluation on the rising star leading up to his draft. As Australian basketball continues to rise, Giddey is now able to inspire the next generation of talent as they take advantage of the resources available in Australia en route to the NBA.