Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Josh Giddey tied a career-high on Wednesday, and made a bit of NBA history in the process during a close loss to the Utah Jazz.
Giddey, playing in his 18th career game, recorded 19 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in nearly 34 minutes of work. He converted on 8-of-15 shot attempts from the field, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, during the 110-104 loss.
With the performance, Giddey joined LeBron James and LaMelo Ball as the only teenagers in NBA history to reach 100 rebounds and 100 assists within their first 20 games at 19 years, 45 days.
He now has 131 rebounds and 105 assists on the season.
🇦🇺 @joshgiddey joins LaMelo Ball and LeBron James as the only teenagers in NBA history to reach 100 assists and 100 rebounds in their first 20 games! #NBA75 #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/yRM8XTlM21
— NBA Australia (@NBA_AU) November 25, 2021
Giddey entered the season highly touted given his ability to rebound and get his teammates involved as a lead guard. He has often stuffed the stat sheet in those two categories and even became the second-youngest player to dish out 10 assists in a game last month.
He has often been compared to Ben Simmons at this stage of his career given his ability to score and rebound while getting his teammates involved. Now, he joins a couple of notable players to reach 100 rebounds and 100 assists so quickly into a career.
It likely won’t be the last bit of history Giddey makes this season, either.
This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
[lawrence-related id=45245,42526,41198]
[mm-video type=video id=01fn6tx1ab12gx3sx6aj playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f1jxkahtwnvzepyp image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fn6tx1ab12gx3sx6aj/01fn6tx1ab12gx3sx6aj-edbd74b45f332d042874b4902fa3f8e0.jpg]
[listicle id=44725]