OKC Thunder's Josh Giddey: Same Interview, Rookie Year and Now

Hi, I'm Josh Giddey of the Oklahoma City Thunder

and this is my Time Capsule.

[upbeat music]

[group cheering]

12.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists.

Averaging 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

[upbeat music]

I have 340,000 Instagram followers

and I have 495,000 TikTok followers.

Instagram, I have,

I think about 430-something thousand followers.

TikTok is about 750,000 followers.

My last post was a little photo dump, just a bunch

of photos from the last, two or three weeks.

I like to do that every so often.

I gave my Instagram away earlier this year.

I didn't want to see anything on social media.

Nothing bad was happening or anything.

I just wanted to get off it, back on it now.

I just felt like I was missing out on so much.

[upbeat music]

I want to achieve as many wins as possible with our team.

We got a young team, so more we can grow and learn together

the better it's gonna be going forward

and for the future.

I think we have, not many, I think maybe like

somewhere in the twenties this year

and hopefully next year it can be up.

Our goal always internally was to to be a playoff team

and the guys that we've had have grown a lot.

The new guys that have come in have really helped us,

so it's obviously exciting.

We're all in very similar parts of our careers,

in the early stages, so it's a very tight group.

[upbeat music]

There's a lot of tough players

in the NBA that you have to guard every night.

Steph was one of the toughest, Devin Booker.

I mean, these guys were my match ups, but when you get

switched onto them

they're always tough guys to guard.

I don't necessarily have to guard these guys

but when I've got switched onto I'd say Steph

and Damian Lillard,

I think their ability to shoot from pretty much anywhere

when they cross that half court line

you have to pick 'em up high.

I still think, guys target when you're a young guy

in the league.

[upbeat music]

Probably a left to right crossover.

I've done that for a while, the left to right crossover.

My favorite move now is probably spin move.

I've started doing it a lot when I get

into the paint spin, move into a floater.

[upbeat music]

I'd say Smart, IQ and pass first.

I'm not the most athletic, not the fastest, strongest guy,

but I think, those things you can't really be taught.

I'm a lot bigger than the average guard at that size.

I do things, my own way.

[upbeat music]

I'd say my parents are the big ones that inspire me,

from a young age, they play basketball

for a long time in their careers.

They coach me all the way up through my junior career

and they've had a big impact on where I'm at today.

My parents definitely do still inspire me.

They're the main two.

That's who you do it for.

If you ask any player in the league.

My sister lives with me.

She plays college basketball in Oklahoma

and she was actually there before I was

so it worked out well.

I got drafted to where,

the city she was out and my younger sisters

they still go to school back in Australia

so it's just trying to coordinate that.

But obviously really close to my mom and my dad.

[upbeat music]

The first one is probably getting healthy.

The second thing I'm excited for is going back,

seeing my family and friends back home

in Australia after the season.

I mean, third one, I'm excited for the offseason

just to it's the most important time of the year,

I think when guys separate themselves

from the rest of the NBA and so many things I gotta work on.

Hopefully a playoff, the World Cups this summer.

So I'm excited for that to represent my country.

Really excited to go back home and see all my friends

and family that I haven't been able to see.

I haven't been home in 12 months

so it'd be good to see everyone when I get back.

[upbeat music]

Probably the peace and quiet.

There's no traffic.

Everything's 10 minutes away.

I love the city.

I'm a big fan of it.

It's different to where I'm from.

I'm from a really busy city.

It's always stuff happening, but Oklahoma's nice and quiet.

Oh, the people, the nicest people I've met,

they're all big Thunder fans in that city.

It's a small city.

I'm sure the other guys, I'll tell you as well,

when we're out and about in town, the people around

are so respectful, so good to us.

[upbeat music]

Driving on the other side of the road,

the steering wheel's on the other side of the car,

you can turn right at red lights.

A lot of Australian America is really similar, just in terms

of how everyday life kind of operates.

The one natural big one is in Australia

there's no free refills at restaurants.

You gotta pay for every drink you get.

[upbeat music]

I am not dating anyone right now.

Same answer as 12 months ago.

A lot of my teammates have had girlfriends

for a number of years now

so I'm one of the unlucky few ones that doesn't have one

but I'm sure, I'm 20.

So that'll come in due time.

[upbeat music]

Probably have a short-term memory was the best piece

of advice I ever got was just, you're playing so many games,

there's 82 games in the season and then plus playoffs,

if you make that,

you can't dwell on one game or one bad possession.

The one thing I've heard a lot is keep the main thing,

the main thing in my case is keep basketball the main thing.

At this point in my career,

there's a lot of distractions in this lifestyle

and for a young guy that's trying to cement yourself

in the NBA, you want to keep basketball

in the number one priority.

[upbeat music]

Probably adjusting, on the defensive end,

has been my biggest challenge this year.

Just a lot of guys, especially the superstars

will kind of pick out rookies and try

and get them in action to have them switch onto them.

LeBron was the big one.

He pointed at the guy I was defending to set

in a ball screen and gave me to switch into it.

Probably another challenge for a rookie is,

you hit the rookie wall,

they talk about midway through the season,

you've never played that many games before.

That can be challenging.

And then they talk

about sophomore when they say sophomore slump.

And I had that, earlier in the season

there was probably, three week stretch

that I was really struggling, felt like I couldn't

do anything right out there on the floor.

But when you talk to other guys around the league,

you feel alone in the moment, but everyone goes through it.

It's completely normal.

[upbeat music]

I do the same workout every time

before the game with Mike, my coach.

So I'm in the weight room, I'm on the court

then I'm with the physios and then we have a team meeting

and then we year into our team warmups on the floor.

So it's the same every time and that never really changes.

Yeah, I've never really been a big ritual guy.

I don't really take naps.

I don't do anything, out of the ordinary on gamedays,

I eat the same meal,

chicken and rice and a banana shake before every game.

I like to get off my feet a little bit,

while I'll be in bed from about, 11:30 till 3:30-4,

whenever we leave, and I probably won't get out of bed

for that four hour time.

[upbeat music]

The most I spent is probably like a few thousand

on one thing in Louis Vuitton, like jackets.

A few Off White shoes.

Since last year, probably be a car for my mom.

I got her BMW, I got into watches a fair bit.

You'd be surprised at how much, flights end up adding up,

especially in the off-season

when you're constantly moving around.

[upbeat music]

I'd say Louis Vuitton and Dior, probably two.

My favorite Dior piece would probably be,

I have this puffer jacket.

My favorite Louis Vuitton thing would probably

be this denim jacket that I have.

I've wore a lot of Balenciaga last couple years.

I like designer brands, but there's also other brands.

Rick Owens, I've got into a fair bit.

[upbeat music]

My favorite one, and it was my dream one

was being with Nike, being a Nike athlete.

For all my life,

I watched all my role models represent Nike,

like Kobe, Kevin Durant, LeBron.

We've got, we're working on at the moment,

big Australian one.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say it or not

but I grew up a lot around this product

and I'm excited to do something with it.

We actually did a thing with a cereal called Weet-Bix

which is like the equivalent of like Wheaties here.

So when you go into supermarket to buy them

I'm on the boxes of those cereals.

So we've done a few things back home.

But yeah, I mean as you grow in the NBA obviously

the endorsements start to pick up a little bit more.

[upbeat music]

I've got a financial manager, advisor who takes care

of all my stuff.

Having those people

in your corner that are telling you to,

be smart with your money, I'm invested, do all this stuff

with it just so you are good for the long run.

Your kids can be good for the long run, their kids,

the more money you can create with the money you get now,

the better you're gonna be for the future.

I mean, I obviously agree with everything I said in that

but as you get deeper in, you start to realize

that it's not just the NBA checks you get,

it's a lot of the off the court stuff.

You get endorsements, you get a licensing check.

We got a check for being under the salary cap

a certain amount.

So there's a bunch of different things

and ever since I got drafted, all I wanted to do

was take care of my family.

That was the main thing.

Outside of that, just continuing to invest,

do the right things with my money was important because,

nothing's ever guaranteed.

If God forbid something could happen tomorrow,

I can never play another game again.

It's easy for young guys to come in,

they've never seen this type of money.

They spend it, they're out the league

in two years and they have nothing left.

So being smart with it.

But yeah, I think I've got the right people

around me and that's never gonna be a problem.

[upbeat music]