{"id":14101,"date":"2023-02-20T03:58:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T03:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/20\/lebrons-big-praise-for-josh-giddey-and-warning-to-rest-of-the-nba-about-rising-thunder\/"},"modified":"2023-02-20T03:58:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T03:58:00","slug":"lebrons-big-praise-for-josh-giddey-and-warning-to-rest-of-the-nba-about-rising-thunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/20\/lebrons-big-praise-for-josh-giddey-and-warning-to-rest-of-the-nba-about-rising-thunder\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron\u2019s big praise for Josh Giddey… and warning to rest of the NBA about rising Thunder"},"content":{"rendered":"

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LeBron James has once again heaped praise on Australian rising star Josh Giddey \u2014 and Oklahoma City\u2019s promising young core \u2014 while speaking ahead of Monday\u2019s All-Star Game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

James, who earlier this month broke the NBA\u2019s all-time points scoring record<\/a> while playing against Giddey\u2019s Thunder, was asked what he made of the Australian\u2019s game. <\/p>\n

The Lakers superstar was glowing in his assessment of Giddey when asked a similar question at All-Star weekend last year<\/a> and he was just as complimentary this time around.<\/p>\n

Watch an average of 9 LIVE NBA Regular Season games per week on ESPN on Kayo Sports on ESPN on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now<\/a> ><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

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LEBRON STANDS ALONE! James makes history | 00:45<\/p>\n

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\u201cJosh Giddey\u2019s really, really good, man,\u201d James said. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, a tall point guard. He\u2019s a triple-double type of playmaker every single night because of his ability to rebound at his size, his instinctive passing, and he has the ability to score in the paint. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s going to continue to get better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n

James echoed similar sentiments about Oklahoma City as a team, warning the rest of the league hasn\u2019t even seen what the Thunder is like with Chet Holmgren \u2014 the No.2 pick from last year\u2019s draft \u2014 on the floor.<\/p>\n

Holmgren, for reference, was ruled out for the entire 2022-23 season after undergoing surgery on a foot injury he picked up in a game at Jamal Crawford\u2019s CrawsOver Pro-Am League.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a really good young core over in OKC, and they don\u2019t even have Chet (Holmgren) there just yet,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Josh is a really good player along with other rookies that they have this year, and obviously, we know first-time (All-Star) Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) is really good, and the rest of that crew over there. (Giddey) is a pretty good player for sure. You guys should be proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

As mentioned earlier, it is not the first time James has spoken glowingly of Giddey, describing the Australian\u2019s basketball as \u201cbeautiful\u201d while speaking at All-Star weekend last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty special anytime you can have someone of that caliber to \u2014 even mention your name \u2014 but let alone to be giving you praise,\u201d said Giddey at the time in response.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s obviously somebody I\u2019ve looked up to all my life, so to hear that was pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even more cool though was the chance to share the court with James when he broke the record earlier this month.<\/p>\n

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Shaq emotional after Lebron GOAT call | 01:28<\/p>\n

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\u201cNot many people thought this record would ever be broken. To be a part of history with one of the all-time greats is a special moment,\u201d Giddey said, admitting he was \u201csecretly hoping\u201d James did it during the Thunder game.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust so I could be here and witness it, just as everyone else did,\u201d the 20-year-old added.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a player, you also are a fan, and the things [LeBron] has done for the game over the last 20-or-so years, he\u2019s inspired and has been a mentor to kids all around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was to me. He was my favourite player growing up. To be on the floor and share history like we did tonight was special and it\u2019s a record that never again in our lifetime will it be broken.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LeBron James has once again heaped praise on Australian rising star Josh Giddey \u2014 and Oklahoma City\u2019s promising young core \u2014 while speaking ahead of Monday\u2019s All-Star Game. James, who earlier this month broke the NBA\u2019s all-time points scoring record while playing against Giddey\u2019s Thunder, was asked what he made of the Australian\u2019s game. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5013,1800,2988,5018,5010,5014,5011,2852,5016,1805,1533,1809,2628,2610,2354,5008,2571,2564,5015,5012,5017,2573,1792,5009],"class_list":{"0":"post-14101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","8":"tag-aerial-prowess","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-andrew-jackson","11":"tag-australian-rising-star","12":"tag-dunk-show","13":"tag-heaped-praise","14":"tag-jamal-crawford","15":"tag-jayson-tatum","16":"tag-lebron","17":"tag-lebron-james","18":"tag-north-america","19":"tag-northern-america","20":"tag-oklahoma","21":"tag-oklahoma-city","22":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","23":"tag-promising-young-core","24":"tag-shaquille-oneal","25":"tag-single-night","26":"tag-special-moment","27":"tag-tall-point-guard","28":"tag-tatum-ja","29":"tag-time-point-scorer","30":"tag-united-states-of-america","31":"tag-young-core"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}