For years now, the NBA has been tapping young talent from the NBL and the strategy has been incredibly successful. Patty Mills-Atlanta Hawks, Ben Simmons – Brooklyn Nets, Dyson Daniels -New Orleans Pelicans, Matisse Thybulle – Philadelphia 76ers, and Jock Landale – Phoenix Suns, are just a few examples of Australian homegrown players making headlines in the NBA teams. 

Josh Giddey, the Oklahoma City young point guard is a further attestation of the Aussies’ latent basketball talent that remarkably flies the country’s flag to the length and breadth of the sporting world. 

Officially known as Joshua James Giddey, Josh was born in October 2002 and grew up in Yarraville. He featured for the Adelaide 36ers in the 2020-21 season and thanks to his exemplary performances he was signed by the Oklahoma City Thunder as the 6th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. 

Hitherto, Josh Giddey holds the record for the youngest player to achieve a triple-double in the history of the NBA, having achieved the rare feat at just 19 years and 84 days. 

A graduate of the renowned Australian Institute of Sports at Canberra, Josh has athletically grown into a force to reckon with within the Australian Basketball circles and in the NBA tournaments. 

He is the only player to record three consecutive triple-doubles as a rookie since 1961 when Oscar Roberston, the famed Hall of Famer player recorded similar scores. 

While representing the NBA Global Academy in 2020, Josh emerged as the MVP of the competition and played a key role in helping his teammates bag the “Torneo Junior Ciutat de L’Hospitalet in Barcelona”. 

Phenomenal as he is, Josh is a model athlete of the NBL’s rigorous and well-intended plans to outcompete major basketball leagues as a hub for homegrown basketball professionals with a globally competitive niche. 

Josh Giddey Compares NBL to NBA

Having played in both leagues Josh Giddey recently gave his sentiments about what he considers the most competitive leagues in the world currently, more so, as we look forward to the leagues’ starting dates in late September (NBL), and 24th October for the NBA. 

Josh started by stating that the NBA provides the much-needed greener pastures for the Aussie basketball talent given the ‘wildly difference’ in player wages across the leagues. 

While speaking to eager sports journalists and publishers, Josh describes NBL as the most genuine pathway to aspiring Australian basketball players. He says that the fact that a player can bounce straight into the NBA, and have an impact on the game attests to the league’s competitiveness and strength. He describes NBL as the closest thing to the NBA despite the glaring wage parity. 

The NBA vS. NBL Recent Player Springboard 

Josh helps us put things into perspective by further diving into the players’ springboard that has been generated by the two leagues in the recent past. 

Focusing on the last season alone (2022-23) Josh argues that 14 players with ex-NBL experience featured in regular roasters of top-flight NBA teams, including his Oklahoma City Thunder teammate Ousmane Dieng. 

He continues to credit NBL for its central role in accelerating their overall preparedness and acting as the ideal springboard into the NBA courts. While noting stats are a basis of the NBA scouts in the NBL teams, Josh weighs in on other factors he considers as qualitative boasters to Aussie’s young talents making it to the NBA. These include 

• NBL’s games physicality 
• NBL’s important lessons on how to develop and grow as a professional athlete. 
• The rigorous season-long training and match-day performances, including the journey to recovery in case of an unfortunate injury while on duty. 

In his view of European basketball versus the NBL or NBA, Josh reveals that the latter’s up-and-down style is intensive and, thus, an easy transition. In the former, basketballers are used to a much slower half-court game, which makes Europe to NBA transition a bit hard compared to the NBL-NBA migration. 

Players Transitioning From NBL to NBA In the 2023-24 Season 

Our info desk, as Josh’s interview reveals that in the upcoming season, at least 20 players with NBL experience will feature in the NBA teams. The number is expected to rise sharply with numerous players on the brink of inking a deal before the season starts. These include DJ Hogg (Sydney), and Luke Travers (Melbourne), who successfully made it to the Cleveland Cavaliers draft of 2022. 

With year-in-year-on recruitment of NBL stars to NBA teams, you don’t need to look far to realize how Australia’s investment in young talent development is working miracles, especially within basketball courts. 

For instance, there are over 40 NBA scouts who have expressed interest in the famous NBL’s pre-season competition, ‘The Blitz’ which will be taking place in Gold Coast from September 16. Josh confirmed that his agent revealed to him that this is the highest number of NBA executives congregating in Australia since the inaugural event, highlighting the growing appetite for Australian talent among the NBA top teams. 

In his considered opinion, Josh believes that NBL is currently drawing incredible global attention because it focuses on a pure style of basketball with an emphasis on teamwork. He continues that to be a successful team in the NBL, requires a total buy-in and commitment from all your roster’s 12 players. 

While lauding both leagues’ approaches and mentality training, Josh Giddey argues that NBA and NBL pride of almost equal number of possessions per 40 minutes, highlighting that scoring and quickness are also within similar frequencies and ranks in both leagues.