Josh Giddey is one of the more unique prospects in the 2021 NBA Draft.
Not only did he spend the past season in the NBL as opposed to the NCAA, but Giddey is a 6-foot-8 guard who is widely considered to be one of the best passers in his class. NBA.com's draft expert Kyle Irving called him a "gifted playmaker" and "pick-and-roll maestro," adding that he's someone who makes every player around him better.
Ahead of the draft, Giddey was asked which players he looked up to growing up and tries to model his game after.
"There definitely was players growing up that I loved to watch," Giddey responded. "Andrew Gaze was a legend in Australian basketball, and he was definitely someone I looked up to and idolized.
"Speaking NBA, the guys probably I looked up to the most was guys like Luka Doncic, Ben Simmons, Joe Ingles — a lot of those bigger point guards who were pass-first guys and loved getting teammates involved."
MORE: What we can learn from Giddey's best and worst game
Those certainly aren't bad influencers for Giddey to have.
As Giddey said, Gaze is a legend in Australian basketball, having won an NBA championship, two NBL championships and seven NBL MVP awards in his career.
On the NBA side, Doncic has quickly become one of the league's best players since being selected with the No. 3 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, establishing himself as a walking triple-double with averages of 25.7 points, 8.4 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game through three seasons of his career. Simmons has become a star himself, earning three All-Star selections and two All-Defensive First Team selections since being selected No. 1 in the 2016 NBA Draft.
Ingles went undrafted in 2009, but he's developed into one of the league's steadiest role players, finishing second in Sixth Man of the Year voting in the 2020-21 season.
Ingles in particular has been a popular comparison for Giddey heading into the draft. It's not one Ingles necessarily agrees with — "Josh is an idiot for that because he’s way better than me," the Utah Jazz forward recently said — but he's been a mentor of sorts to Giddey throughout the draft process.
"He's just asking what he needs to do to prepare (for the NBA)," Ingles said. "He’s gonna be a high pick.
"People are gonna be after him and think they should have been drafted ahead of him. You play point guard (in the NBA), you’re gonna have some challenges, whether it’s Steph (Curry), Chris (Paul), Dame Lillard, the list goes on. He’s going to have some challenges, but I’m confident he’ll handle them very well."
In his most recent mock draft, NBA.com's Kyle Irving had Giddey going No. 13 to the Indiana Pacers. NBA.com's other draft expert, Eric Fawcett, had him going No. 15 to the Washington Wizards.
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