During Josh Giddey’s film room session with ESPN Australia’s Andrew Gaze, the 19-year-old rookie admitted that he read some of the flack that was said about him when the Oklahoma City Thunder took him sixth overall in the 2021 NBA Draft.
“I think the thing that was most frustrating for me was everyone — when I got picked sixth — everyone was saying like, ‘this is too high for Giddey,’ this and that, and I wanted to prove people wrong and I had a dunk the first play (of Summer League) and that was the end of it. The same comments started coming back you know, ‘Giddey’s a bust,'” said Giddey. “It was frustrating sitting there watching but I guess it was for the better and here we are now so I’m glad I did that.”
Giddey said that the criticism was the loudest on draft night and during Summer League when he only managed to play five minutes before spraining his ankle. Giddey would not return to play another game due to the injury. Giddey also acknowledged that he had a lot more criticism at the beginning of the regular season.
“The first five games were pretty rough. And then after that things picked up a bit but you know, it was obviously hard to see all those things on social media and stuff coming from the first five games” said Giddey. “Especially on draft and that was a bad one. It was like three in the morning we go back to dinner and all I was reading on social media is how bad Giddey is and this and that. So it was tough at that time, but now it’s alright. I don’t mind it too much.”
The full interview can be watched here.
Josh Giddey expressing how much the pressure of social media impacted him early on
Andrew Gaze taking extreme delight in the impact social media had on Josh Giddey early on pic.twitter.com/e14UXM1OI5
— Andrew Schlecht (@AndrewKSchlecht) May 2, 2022
I think Josh saw your tweet pic.twitter.com/0scttx9Wof
— Andrew Schlecht (@AndrewKSchlecht) May 2, 2022
