Josh Giddey’s epic rise to NBA stardom has blazed a trail for other Aussies to follow

Get to know GQ Australia’s next cover star who is changing the way the world thinks about Australia’s basketball talent.

Basketballer Josh Giddey from Melbourne is now one of Australia’s richest athletes and highly rated by the world’s best.

Josh Giddey has “superstar” written all over him. At just 20, the Melburnian has not only made it to the NBA but is already exceeding fans’ predictions for what he could achieve.

“I personally didn’t expect to have the kind of impact I did from the start of my rookie season,” he tells GQ in his forthcoming September/October cover story, “A lot has happened in the past few years that caught me by surprise, but it’s been everything I could have hoped for and more.”

Out Friday, exclusively in The Australian, GQ shows Giddey as you’ve never seen him before. Not only is he decked out in designer labels like Gucci, Prada and Dior, but he tells all about his journey from a talented 18-year-old NBL player – “I was expected to be a long-term NBL player,” he says – to a player tipped to be a ­future superstar in the NBA, with all its glamour, bright lights and money.

Giddey became an overnight millionaire when the Oklahoma City Thunder drafted him in 2019 and signed him to a $US27m four-year contract – enough to make him one of the highest-paid Australian athletes in the world.

He rewarded the Thunder’s faith with a stellar rookie season that he improved on in his second season last year.

He’s earned praise from greats like LeBron James (“He’s really, really, really good”) and broken records as the youngest player to ever record a triple-double. But beyond those individual achievements, Giddey’s rise has helped to redefine how the rest of the world sees Australian basketball.

Australia has been a respected nation in international basketball tournaments for over a decade now, but the NBA has rarely looked to tap our local talent until they have proven themselves in America or overseas.

Stars such as Patty Mills, Joe ­Ingles and Ben Simmons all played in the USA or Europe ­before they cracked the NBA.

But, for Giddey, the path from Australia to the NBA had no ­stopovers – and now that he has blazed the trail, other Aussies are already following in his footsteps.

“It’s as good as anywhere,” Giddey says of Australia’s development system,

“Look around the country, the coaches’ emphasis is heavily on player development and playing team-first basketball. Australians play the right way. It’s unselfish,” he says.

Following in his footsteps, top prospects like Alex Toohey and Rocco Zikarsky have decided to join the NBL despite interest from colleges in the US, and it won’t be long before NBA scouts come knocking.

Until then, every game Giddey plays further makes the case that Australia is an untapped gold mine of basketball talent.

Get to know the leader of the next generation of Australian athletes in The Australian on Friday.