The Oklahoma City Thunder rebuild is still in its early stages, but the building blocks are there with a dynamic young core quickly developing into one of the most exciting squads in the league.
OKC finished with the fourth-worst record in the league this season, arming the team with yet another high pick in this year's NBA Draft as part of the treasure trove of picks acquired in recent seasons by general manager Sam Presti.
As the Thunder look to shape their roster for the future, one element they can check off is their backcourt. With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey, they've quickly developed a two-headed monster of size, scoring and playmaking, with the Aussie relishing the budding future alongside the Canadian guard.
"He's a special player, All-Star calibre guy," Giddey told Sporting News Australia. "He's a great guy as well, which makes things really easy. He's unselfish, and he's on the same pages as us all."
After reaching the NBA Playoffs in Gilgeous-Alexander's first OKC season following a blockbuster 2019 trade with the Clippers, the Thunder have won just 46 combined games in the past two seasons. Despite their rebuilding status, Giddey says SGA has more than embraced the situation, serving as the team's on-court leader and late-game closer.
"It can be frustrating for a guy like that at times to lose games," Giddey said. "Being an All-Star type of player, you want to win, and I think he's done a great job of understanding the team he's on and making guys around him better.
"I love playing with him, and I'm excited for where me and him, and not just us, but the rest of the group are heading."
With both guards standing north of 6-6, OKC presents a mismatch nightmare for opposing backcourts. But with both players most effective with the ball in their hands, Giddey believes finding the right balance can help turn them into one of the best duos in the league.
"There's a lot of duos around the league — [Jaylen] Brown and [Jayson] Tatum, [CJ] McCollum and [Damian] Lillard — they're all better with the ball in their hands, and they've been together for years obviously," Giddey said. "But it's things that guys like that have to work out and how to learn to play off the ball and play without the ball in their hands.
"It's obviously something me and Shai are going to have to learn to do, but I think as we've seen as the year's gone on, we've both gotten better at it, learning to cut, learning to screen, learning to find other ways to impact the game."
As Giddey's confidence grew throughout the season, he was thrust into the lead guard role in January when Gilgeous-Alexander went down with an ankle injury. That resulted in the Aussie enjoying his best stretch of the season, recording three consecutive triple-doubles. He joined Oscar Robertson (1960-61) as the only teenagers in NBA history to ever achieve the feat. In 13 games without Gilgeous-Alexander, Giddey averaged 16.4 points, 9.0 rebounds and 8.1 assists.
Just when SGA returned to the floor, Giddey's season came to an end because of a hip injury. Gilgeous-Alexander took control of the offense, averaging 30.4 points, 7.3 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals on 54.2 percent shooting from the field and 39.3 percent shooting from the 3-point line in 13 games.
"It's not natural for two dominant ball handlers to come together, but we've done a great job of making it work, and I think we only played 40 or something games together," Giddey said. "So, next year, I'm excited for it.
"He's such an unselfish guy. He's happy to give the ball up. He makes guys around him better, so I love playing with him, and he makes it easy to play with him."
With SGA tied down to a long-term deal, fellow Canadian Luguentz Dort is the next man up, entering the final year of his deal. He is eligible for an extension this offseason, and Giddey sees him as a crucial piece to their development.
"Lu's great. I think he gets praised a lot for what he does defensively, but offensively, the jump he's made from Year 1 to Year 3, last year, was big," Giddey said. "Being able to be a catch-and-shoot player, he's great on the ring, but I think he gets so much praise defensively that people don't realise. I think he averaged almost 17 a game this year, so he was big for us on that end of the floor as well, and he's getting better and better each year.
"I'm excited for him, and he's going to be a big part of where we're heading."
Alongside Tre Mann, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Aaron Wiggins, Darius Bazley and Aleksej Pokuševski, OKC's youthful group at times resembles a college team. That energy resonates throughout the team, with the squad more likely to be huddled in a hotel room playing video games than out on the town.
"It's a great group, young group, and I knew coming in it was going to be an easy transition just because of how young guys were. And they were all fresh in their careers, so I could slot right in," Giddey said. "On the road, when we're at home, it's a great group of guys. The environment is always fun to be in, win or lose. We all come back to practice the next day and are excited to be there.
"It's a great, hungry, young group, and that's what makes me excited for the future for this team."
