Josh Giddey's Path to (All)Stardom

When the Chicago Bulls traded All-Defensive Team guard Alex Caruso for the flawed yet promising young player Josh Giddey, Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti described Giddey as a potential All-Star in the post-trade press release. Many were skeptical of Giddey after he struggled to perform in the playoffs against the Dallas Mavericks, interpreting Presti’s comments as a routine professional formality. 

However, in Giddey’s last 19 games, he averaged an impressive 21.2 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 9.3 assists while shooting 45.7% from beyond the arc. Highlighted by buzzer-beaters and a near quadruple-double, fans, and media members are beginning to reconsider the possibility of Giddey becoming an All-Star someday.

Using the age, season, box plus-minus (BPM), player efficiency rating (PER), and team win percentage (WIN%) of all eight 2024-25 Eastern Conference All-Star guards during their first All-Star appearances, their stats were averaged to compare with Giddey’s first season as a Bull.

2024-25 All-Star First Appearance Stats

via Basketball-Reference.com

It’s safe to say Giddey’s numbers are encouraging. He had a rough start returning from his Olympics injury and adjusting to his new team, yet he finished the season with a BPM and PER comparable to those of first-time All-Stars. These stats do not eliminate the hesitation fans may feel, even after Giddey’s strong late-season stretch, as no metric can definitively predict a player’s potential progression. 

If Giddey aspires to make an All-Star team one day, winning is the surest path to achieving that. Specifically, he needs to be on track to finish the season with a record above .500, considering that Young and Herro are the only players whose teams finished with a losing record despite both being selected. Giddey’s unconventional journey to Chicago may have just led him to a propitious career.