NBA draft guide: Josh Giddey finds out his future as NBA hits new era

Australian point guard Josh Giddey will find out where he will begin his NBA career when the US league hosts its annual player draft on Friday AEST.

Last year’s draft was held virtually due to America’s COVID-19 struggles but this year they have invited 20 of the most likely selections to attend the draft in person in New York, with Giddey among those invited.

Josh Giddey in action for the 36ers.Credit: Getty Images

ESPN and NBA League Pass will show it live in Australia from 10am AEST.

How it works, why it matters

NBA sides needed a way to share young talent from around the world fairly so they have a draft with the teams who missed the play-offs at the top of the order and more successful sides lower down.

The top 13 picks were decided by a random draw and teams can trade their picks and any contracted players either before, during or after the draft which adds to the drama – especially if an All-Star like Ben Simmons is included in one of the deals.

The Detroit Pistons have the first pick and most draft watchers expect Cade Cunningham to be their selection.

Cunningham will be in line for a guaranteed contract of up to four years, starting at around $US8.1 million for this season with each of the first 30 selections also receiving guaranteed contracts with their pay scaling down to pick 30 at $US1.6. million this season.

The 30 second-round picks don’t get guaranteed contracts but the side which selects them holds sole ‘rights’ to their NBA services.

Josh Giddey has impressed scouts with his poise and level head.Credit: Getty Images

Second-round picks can choose to try out for their team right away or wait, some teams select players who are already based overseas with a view to ‘stashing’ them for future years.

The Golden State Warriors left their 2020 second-round pick Justinian Jessup to play for the Illawarra Hawks in the NBL this past season.

What will happen to Giddey?

The 18-year-old Victorian spent this past year with Adelaide 36ers in the NBL and he led the league in assists, with 7.9 per game while impressing scouts with his poise and level head.

He even demonstrated his calm demeanour during his pre-draft press conference, held over Zoom, where a journalist thought he was on mute and asked his one-year-old son if he had ‘pooped’ only for the question to go to Giddey who paused and then ignored it.

Giddey’s dad Warrick played 449 NBL games, most of them alongside Andrew Gaze at Melbourne Tigers and the pair have coached Josh extensively as he grew up, while his mum Kim also played WNBL with Melbourne Tigers.

Giddey is expected to be the first player from the NBA Global Academy, based at the Australian Institute of Sport, to become a first-round pick.

“Andrew Gaze has been my coach since I was eight or nine and we worked out together when I was in Melbourne during the off-season,” Josh Giddey said.

Giddey played so well with Adelaide he rocketed up the projected draft boards from outside the first round to a likely top-10 pick.

Josh Giddey soars for a dunk during the NBL Cup in March.Credit: Getty Images

Australian greats Luc Longley and Andrew Bogut have been pressing the Golden State Warriors to take Giddey with the seventh pick, where he would get to play with superstar guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson at the multibillion-dollar Chase Centre in San Francisco.

But the Memphis Grizzlies made a trade with the New Orleans Pelicans this week which included pick 10 and some experts think they have Giddey high on their list.

“To me, it’s about making the most of any opportunity I get,” Giddey told his pre-draft press conference.

Giddey won’t be the first Australian to go directly from the NBL to the NBA as Chris Anstey set that record in 1997, while Simmons and Andrew Bogut are the two Australians who have been number one selections, along with the Australian-born, US-raised Kyrie Irving.

Why isn’t Giddey playing for the Boomers in Tokyo?

Giddey was one of the last players cut from the Tokyo Olympics side and he took his omission in stoic fashion, staying with the team for its lead-up games in Las Vegas and then playing against Nigeria, where he starred with scouts from almost every NBA team watching on.

Boomers and Utah Jazz NBA veteran Joe Ingles has been a sounding board for Giddey for several years and he thinks the teenager has a long career ahead of him at NBA and international level.

“He elected to stay with us in Las Vegas and train with the group when he could have gone to LA or New York and focused on the draft – that’s pretty special,” Ingles said on Wednesday night.

“I don’t want to say I’m mentoring him as he is smart enough. I’ve just been trying to help him. I want the Jazz to draft him but I think he will be gone by the time we pick.”

A new ball and logo

For those who have watched the NBA for years, things will look different, with the league adopting a new ball and a new logo for the coming season.

Wilson, who has supplied the NBL with balls for several years, has officially become the ball of the NBA after Spalding held that honour for 38 years.

Each NBA draft pick will wear a cap with their new team’s logo but this year’s caps will feature the league’s new logo which celebrates the NBA’s 75th anniversary season.