Aussie NBA star Josh Giddey has thrown his support behind Ben Simmons and says he hopes to play alongside him at the Boomers in the next couple of years.
Simmons has gotten off to an indifferent start at the struggling 4-6 Brooklyn Nets after sitting out all of last season for the Philadelphia 76ers amid a trade standoff.
The former Pick 1 has been marred by foul trouble and looked rusty offensively before getting sidelined with a knee issue.
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Simmons himself said he’ll “one hundred per cent” represent Australia at the Olympics one day, declaring it a “dream.” It comes ahead of a big couple of years for the Boomers including the FIBA World Cup next year followed by the Paris Olympics in 2024. After a host of fourth-place finishes, Australia finally claimed its first Olympic medal by beating Slovenia to win bronze in Tokyo 2020. And Giddey confirmed he’s keen to help Aussie stalwarts Patty Mills, Joe Ingles and Aron Baynes continue their surge on the international scene and make a genuine push for gold as the likes of Simmons, Dyson Daniels and Josh Green also come through the ranks. “I’ll be there – World Cup is coming up next year. Anything short of a gold medal we won’t be happy with,” he said. “The country is finally at a point where we can comfortably go into these tournaments with a gold medal on our mind. “In previous years it might’ve bee the hope, but how realistic it was, I don’t know. There definitely was the last Olympics and last World Cup. “As time has evolved the chances of gold have become more and more realistic. This is the time where Australian basketball is as good as it’s ever been – the talent level we have is elite. “I’m really excited for the World Cup and moreso the Olympics – I think that’s every player’s dream to win a gold medal there – so I can’t wait for those tournaments.” Kyrie not totally willing to apologise | 02:41 Giddey’s OKC Thunder are also turning heads this season despite being one of several NBA teams expected to be in the race for likely Pick 1 Victor Wembanyama. The Thunder are currently 11th in the West with a 4-5 record, with Giddey’s back-court partner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander producing carer-best form. The Aussie believes his side along with the likes of the Utah Jazz (8-3) and San Antonio Spurs (5-5) are showing that developing teams can still bring it every time they take the court despite the clear appeal of landing Wenbamyama. “It’s good to see these young teams competing. It shows just because you’re rebuilding, it doesn’t mean you can’t be competitive and win games,” he said. “With regards to Victor, he’s a generational talent. Whether teams are trying to get him, I don’t really know, but he’s going to be on the eye of a lot of general managers this year. “I’m not really focused on that at the moment. I’m focused on winning games for the Thunder and I’m excited for our team and happy with where we are right now.” Giddey has joined forces with AFL stars Tom Mitchell, Patrick Cripps and Lachie Neale as a co-owner and content creator for popular fitness and skills app Ball Magnets. He becomes the app’s first basketball ambassador and will provide insights, challenges drills, interviews and behind-the-scenes content that will give users unfiltered access to learning the art of basketball and what it takes to play at NBA level. “It was something I was really passionate about, being able to give back to younger generations and help these kids out,” Giddey said. “Hopefully I can provide an audience – not just in Australia – but around the world, for basketball. “There’s a lot of different things that I worked on when I was that age to get better – ball handling, shooting drills, passing drills – there’s a lot of things kids can work on. “You see a lot of kids these days when they practice, they try and just bomb up threes. Everyone wants to be Steph Curry when they’re 10 years old. “So hopefully these kids can see that little insight into how I train and what I do to prepare myself at the highest level. “The best thing about the app is that it’s free. I would’ve loved to have this opportunity when I was a kid to learn from athletes at the highest levels of their respective sports.” Ball Magnets is a FREE App that has been developed by some of the best AFL, AFLW and NBA players. Download now and find out what it takes to train like an AFL and NBA player and find tips to start improving your game.
