Adjusting to a new role this season wasn’t pretty for Josh Giddey at the start. As Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams surpassed him on the totem pole, the 21-year-old was asked to shift from a primary ball-handler to an off-ball fourth option.
It was flat-out ugly at first. Opposing teams eventually adopted the strategy of sagging off Giddey and dare him to shoot from outside. It worked. The third-year player averaged career lows across the board for most of the season.
As the season progressed, Giddey regressed and saw his playing time dwindle. In crunch time, he was off the floor as the lack of attention from opposing defenses forced OKC to play with a man disadvantage in half-court sets.
Following the Oklahoma City Thunder’s dominating win over the Phoenix Suns, Giddey opened up about his struggles, mentioning how he’d toss and turn in bed at night before a game knowing the opponent was likely going to cross-match him.
“Probably the first 50 or so games, I used to overthink everything,” Giddey said on his recent play. “A lot of the time when I touched the ball, I would think too much about what I’m doing. And it’s hard to play that way. It’s hard to play freely and comfortably when that’s what’s happening. …
“I used to hate it. I used to dread coming into a game knowing a big was going to guard me. I used to think, ‘It’s another one of these nights where they’re gonna dare me to shoot it.’ I used to judge my game so much on if I made or missed 3s.”
After struggling with confidence, Giddey said he had several conversations with Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault and recently experienced an epiphany. Instead of lamenting the defensive disrespect, he was going to use it to his advantage.
“Now I’ve kinda changed my mindset going into games where it’s like, if teams are going to leave me open, I’m going to punish them and I’m going to make them pay and make them change their defensive scheme,” Giddey said.
It’s worked like a charm. Suddenly, as the regular season winds down, Giddey has had the best stretch of the season and arguably his career over these last couple of weeks.
In 14 games in March, he’s averaged 16.3 points on 56.8% shooting, 6.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists. He’s shot 49% from 3 on 3.9 attempts.
If Giddey can carry this over to the playoffs, it suddenly makes the Thunder much more dangerous. Playoff teams likely hoped to take advantage of OKC’s weakest starter. Now, that vulnerability might no longer exist.
But the Thunder will deal with that when the time comes. For now, Giddey hopes to continue to build on the momentum he’s recently gathered.
“It’s easy to feel good when things are going well,” Giddey said. “But I think if you get caught up in the highs and the lows, it sends your emotions on a roller coaster.”
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