The Oklahoma City Thunder are in the midst of a rebuild, and fans have been patiently awaiting the next young core in Bricktown that will take the Thunder to the promised land. Sam Presti has been wheeling, dealing, getting creative, compiling picks, and gunning for top picks in the past two drafts. In 2021, despite bad lottery luck, the OKC Thunder walked away with a steal in Josh Giddey who cleaned house, taking home every Rookie of the Month Award for the Western Conference he was healthy and eligible for.
Josh Giddey quickly became one of the pieces of the Thunder’s foundation for this rebuild, and Giddey was quick to embrace the Oklahoma City organization even asking his agent to find a way to get him to the Thunder on Draft night a year ago.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Josh Giddey “secretly” wanted Sam Presti and the OKC Thunder to select Gonzaga big man Chet Holmgren
A few weeks ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder turned in their 2022 NBA Draft card for the 2nd selection and picked Chet Holmgren to be their next cornerstone piece.
Josh Giddey accompanied Holmgren to Summer Leauge in Salt Lake City for a three-game in three-day sprint where Holmgren dominated in game one to show his extremely high ceiling on the hardwood. When Giddey and Holmgren shared the floor, OKC went 2-0.
The Thunder then flew to Vegas to get ready to join the rest of the 29 other teams participating in the Vegas Summer Leauge, as the stars and ESPN ascend upon the scene, Josh Giddey was featured on ESPN’s weekday show NBA Today and discussed his fit alongside Chet Holmgren with Malika Andrews.
“All through the pre-draft process, was the guy I secretly wanted to play with.” Josh Giddey said Holmgren “protects the ring like I have never seen before from a guy that age.”
This budding bromance will be very fun to watch for the next decade in Oklahoma City. How do you think Josh Giddey and Chet Holmgren will fit together?