It's been an up-and-down season for Josh Giddey.
Entering just his third season, there was cause to believe Giddey had arguably as much upside as the other young talent around him following his second-year leap a year ago.
He scored 16.6 points on 48.2% shooting, dished 6.2 assists and grabbed 7.9 rebounds in his sophomore campaign, shining a light on how impactful his upcoming season could be, especially after he was a primary factor in helping the Thunder reach the postseason with a 40-42 record.
That light has since dimmed, though, as Giddey's fit within this constantly evolving, dynamic offense proved to be difficult for him to ease into within the first couple months of the 2023-24 season.
Turnover woes, lesser production and, at times, inhibiting others' on-court creativity. His third-year regression had given head coach Mark Daigneault some things to ponder on.
Daigneault would stand by Giddey, noting that a player doesn't just happen to get worse following a summer of workouts and FIBA basketball, and has since kept the 6-foot-8 Australian guard in the Thunder's starting lineup.
This didn't come without some inevitable alterations within Oklahoma City's first and second unit rotations.
Giddey found himself with plenty of minutes within the second unit, allowing him to establish his groove and in hopes to get back to his level of comfortability from the year prior.
Ultimately, Giddey would see the lowest amount of play time in his career thus far — just 15 minutes against the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 16 — as Daigneault incrementally decreased his minutes and kept him on the bench in several late-game situations.
Since then, his shot attempts have lessened, but his efficiency has improved simultaneously.
In this league, sometimes less is more — forcing the issue is mostly never a good idea, especially as a player without an innate knack to score the ball.
In his last five contests, Giddey has averaged 11.8 points on 57% from the field and 39% from three, 5.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists in 21.5 minutes.
It's a relatively small improvement in terms of overall production — but these are the types of minute victories a player must curate in order to reestablish confidence.
The season is still young, and Giddey still has a chance to turn his season around for the better within one of the best offenses in the league.
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