NBA DRAFT

July 29, 2021

Josh Giddey

Q. Wanted to get your thoughts on being drafted by the Thunder and just sort of the explain to us what your conversations were like in the pre-draft process.

JOSH GIDDEY: Yeah, look first it's a dream come true so to be taken by the Thunder and to have them want me on their team it makes me feel really special and I couldn't be happier.

The pre-draft process was good. Oklahoma is actually one of my favorite teams and to be picked by them it's a dream come true. So, love the guys, the coaches, the staff on the team and really happy to be there.

Q. You were the NBL Rookie of the Year last year and you also had a chance to follow behind another NBL Rookie of the Year, LaMelo Ball that plays for the Hornets. Watching him become a top-5 pick last year, did that motivate you, knowing that the NBA's paying attention to players in Australia, players like yourself, knowing that you can be in the same shoes that you're in right now?

JOSH GIDDEY: Yeah, it does. I did, sorry. And watching LaMelo and R.J. Hampton go through that same process and see how well their game translated from the NBL to the NBA gave me confidence going in that hopefully I can do something a little bit similar. Lucky enough I did, I landed in a good spot and having LaMelo and R.J. with the attention they brought from America to Australia was big, and I was just lucky enough that the limelight was still on me at the time, and, yeah, like I said, it's just, they had so much attention on the league and it allowed me to go in there with lots of eyes on it so it was a good time for me to enter the league.

Q. How does it feel to be continuing the Australian NBA legacy? Obviously, you're from Melbourne there's been a bunch of draft picks from Melbourne in the modern NBA era, how does it feel to be continuing that Australian legacy?

JOSH GIDDEY: Like it's really special. To follow on from the guys we have had go through the NBA, it means a lot to me and I looked up to those guys for a long time and I speak to them and try and get advice from them. And I was watching them on TV, I'm big fans of theirs. And even two years ago I was watching their highlights and trying to get them to reply to my Instagram messages and all that stuff. So, following in their footsteps being drafted in the NBA, it's really special.

The Australian basketball community is really tight. So, to have those guys by my side and supporting me through this whole process has been really good for me.

Q. You've obviously spoken a fair bit about how big this moment is. Just when you think back about the last season with Adelaide and even spending time with the Boomers camp in Vegas, just how much has that process helped you? I guess a couple of weeks ago how much has that whole process helped you if you go back 12 months ago, this time 12 months ago, and from Adelaide to the Boomers and being so close to the Olympic team as well, how much has this journey, has all that helped you to get to that point today?

JOSH GIDDEY: Yeah, lots. The Boomers was really good for me, regardless of making the team or not, just to be in that environment, be around the veterans we have and the talent we have, it's not just the on-court aspect of getting to compete against them and stuff like that it's also off court, getting to learn from them, talk to them, get advice from them, and it was good. We had guys that were veterans in the league and we had guys that were rookies in the league.

So, it was good to hear it from two perspectives and they were all really supportive of me leading up to this process, and it was great to be around them. I mean, as I said, I mentioned the off court but obviously on the court you get to go against them every day. The Boomers culture is such a strong one and hopefully going forward for the next 15, 20 years, it's something I can be a part of.

Q. With the Summer League coming up in just less than two weeks are you looking forward to doing that and will you play in the Summer League?

JOSH GIDDEY: Absolutely. I can't wait. Just to get on the court again start playing I can't wait for it. For it to be with the Thunder is, it's a bonus as well. So, yeah, I'll be at Summer League and I can't wait for it.

Q. What was it like to share this with your family? We know your mom and dad both have legacies in the NBL and WNBL, what's it like to share it with them? What's it like to take the Giddey name to the NBA after your upbringing?

JOSH GIDDEY: It means the world. To have my family, it was tough to get them over here from Australia and to have them on the table tonight to be able to hug them in that moment and be with them tonight, it means a lot for me, and for them to enjoy this moment with me as well because I give a lot of credit to them, they have raised me the right way, they have spent countless hours getting me -- sacrificing their time for me and my basketball. So, they deserve this moment just as much as I do and I'm really happy that they're here with me and I got to share it with them.

Q. Will you be near your sister now, is she not too far away in college at Oral Roberts?

JOSH GIDDEY: She actually is. She's in Tulsa which is about an hour and a half out of Oklahoma, so this was a dream situation and my parents are over the moon about it now because they can visit both me and her.

Q. So quick question, how important has the NBA academy in Canberra been for your development and how crucial has it been to getting you to where you are now?

JOSH GIDDEY: Big time. I mean I don't know if you guys can see but I actually have a badge on me tonight to kind of represent them and everything they did for me. And when I went to the Academy, I was definitely not an NBA prospect, I was a good player but I was never where I am now. Credit to them, they developed me, trained me, pushed me to be a better player and they got the most out of me for the 18 months I was there. So, to Marty Clarke, Adam Caporn, Robbie McKinley, Chris Ebersole there's countless people I want to thank. That they did an awesome job with me and allowed me to grow and developing my basketball.

Q. You mentioned early on that Oklahoma City, the Thunder was a team that was a favorite of yours? What was it that put them up towards the top in your mind of a team that you were interested in?

JOSH GIDDEY: They were just great people. I mean, they were straight up from day one. I met with -- I was talking to Sam [Presti] and the rest of the staff and coaches and stuff like that and just the way they talked and told me about how they want to lift their program and the direction they're headed in, it was something I wanted to be a part of. It's a young team and I think it can be something really special and I wanted to be a part of that.

Moving forward hopefully in the next coming years that we can have a lot of success in Oklahoma, and as I keep saying, but it was really something I wanted to be a part of and kind of start from the bottom and move our way up in the league. It's a great young team and I can't wait to get down there and get started.