Josh Giddey has been left baffled after not receiving a single vote for the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award despite an encouraging debut season.
After raising eyebrows on draft night when the Oklahoma City Thunder selected him sixth overall, the Melbourne native enjoyed a strong first season, finishing it as OKC’s leading assist man and top rebounder among its regular rotation of players.
The 19-year-old finished his rookie season with averages of 12.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game in 54 appearances and was named the Western Conference’s Rookie of the Month on four separate occasions.
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Unfortunately for Giddey, his promising debut season was cut short due to a hip injury which ended his season in February.
The injury came at an inopportune time for Giddey, who was a game removed from tallying three straight triple doubles. His first triple double for the season, a 17-point, 13-rebound and 14-assist effort against Dallas in January, saw him become the youngest player in NBA history to record a triple double.
However, despite all of his success with the Thunder, the global panel of voters, who cast votes on a 5-3-1 basis, could not find a single vote for Giddey, as Toronto’s Scottie Barnes edged Cleveland’s Evan Mobley for the award, with No.1 pick, Detroit’s Cade Cunningham in third. Houston’s Jalen Green, Orlando’s Franz Wagner and New Orleans’ Herb Jones were the other rookies to receive votes over Giddey.
“It was disappointing,” Giddey told The Age.
“I missed a lot of games, which I understand, it is what it is. But I don’t want to dig too much into it.
“Looking back in five or 10 years, it’s not going to bother me, so it sucks, it is disappointing, but we move on.”
Oklahoma City cratered after Giddey’s injury, winning just six of its final 23 games of the season to finish with a 24-58 record, the second-worst in the Western Conference. Giddey admitted that it was tough to watch his team flounder in his absence.
“It was tough to sit there and watch,” Giddey said.
“In the end, we ran out of games [to return in] but I’m healthy now and will have a full off-season under my belt and get straight back into next season.
“The NBA season is a long, long season. You can’t understand it until you have experienced it as you play back-to-back games, you get into different cities at 2am or 3am in the morning. It’s a busy schedule.”