Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey sparks chaos in Australian suburban game

An NBA star has gobsmacked onlookers at a local Australian suburban league when he suited up before it all went wrong.

Josh Giddey has caused chaos at a local suburban league in Melbourne after suiting up for a Monday night league game.

Videos of the Chicago Bulls star doing his thing on Court No. 5 of the Frankston Basketball Stadium in Melbourne’s Morning Peninsular are going viral.

Giddey is back home after his Bulls were eliminated during the NBA Play-in tournament last month.

After playing against the likes of LeBron James, Andrew Wiggins and D’Angelo Russell in recent weeks, Giddey on Monday decided to take on a bunch of part-time amateur teenagers in the Frankston District Basketball Association Monday night senior men’s competition.

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The reasons for Giddey’s shock appearance were explained by Springvale Waves coach Ann Monaghan on Tuesday morning when she spilled the news with SEN Breakfast hosts Gary Lyon and Tim Watson.

Monaghan said Giddey had asked her if it would be OK if he played in Monday night’s game. She said Giddey had a close friend on the Springvale team and wanted a chance to play alongside him.

Videos shared on social media showed Giddey putting his whole bag of tricks on display.

You can watch Giddey in action in the video player above.

NBA star Josh Giddey (right) poses with local league basketball players (from left to right) Ash Lans, Jesse Lans and Blake Jackson in Frankston. Photo: Supplied

One clip shows him firing off some slick passes into the paint. Another shows him dropping a bomb from well beyond the arc. One video shows the 22-year-old hunting down an unfortunate member of the other team and brutally rejecting an attempted lay-up.

Incredibly, Monaghan said the Waves lost the game.

According to the Frankston and District Basketball Association website, the Waves were beaten 110-84 by Bennys Boys.

Yes, you read that correct.

“I woke up this morning. I had a dream Josh Giddey came and played with us last night on Court 5 at Frankston. And we lost,” Monaghan said with a laugh.

“He just wanted a run with his great mate and his great mate wanted to sell him for us and I said, ‘Yeah, no worries’. And he rang me during the day to say, ‘Hey, my friend wants to come down’.

NBA star Josh Giddey plays local league basketball in Frankston. Photo: Supplied

“I said we’ve got six and we don’t normally run with any more than that and I said, ‘Oh, OK, we’ll give him a run’. And as it turns out one of the other players had to pull out. So he got to run the game and it was great.

“We didn’t even get to give the guys who couldn’t make it last night a heads up. It went pretty quickly. It was so good for local basketball. And we weren’t even on Court 1 last night.”

She said it was standing room only at the court with players and referees from other courts forgetting about their games to come over and watch the former Oklahoma City star put on some moves for the crowd.

Josh Giddey in action. Photo: Instagram, @frankstonbball.

Monaghan joked she considered benching Giddey at one point.

She also said the former No. 6 NBA Draft pick was called for a carry by the referee at one point.

The coach said Giddey was understandably mobbed by fans after the game —and said he was humble throughout the whole night.

“It was great. Local basketball going off. And that’s what it’s all about,” she said.

NBA star Josh Giddey plays local league basketball in Frankston. Photo: Supplied

There was, however, one potentially serious issue Giddey would have weighed up, considering any form of injury could seriously impact a $247 million deal he may be about to sign with the Bulls.

It was speculated by American reporters last month that Giddey is in line to sign a five-year-deal worth around $50 million per year.

He is currently on a contract worth A$13.3 million.

Fortunately for the Bulls, Monaghan insisted her team played the game in second gear.

NBA players are generally allowed to play socially in the offseason, but on some occasions players need approval from the NBA to play in certain public basketball events.

It seems somewhat unlikely NBA commissioner Adam Silver would be too concerned with Court No. 5 in Frankston.

It’s fair to say there may be a few more people at the Frankston courts next Monday.

Originally published as Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey sparks chaos in Australian suburban game