NBA season over for Josh Giddey

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Josh Giddey will miss the last nine games of the NBA season due to a hip injury.

Giddey played his last game on February 26 before being diagnosed with hip soreness and Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said on Sunday that Giddey wouldn’t be ready to play again before the season ended.

The 19-year-old Australian broke several NBA and team records this season including becoming the youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double.

He will make a strong push to be on the NBA All-Rookie first team later this year but isn’t likely to contend for rookie of the year with Evan Mobley and Scottie Barnes favoured to compete for that title.

Giddey averaged 12.5 points, 6.4 assists and 7.8 rebounds in 54 games with his assists average currently 16th in the NBA and the best among rookies after being the No.6 pick in last year’s NBA Draft.

Daigneault said Giddey hadn’t had a hip injury before and the team would be cautious with his recovery.

“It’s a tricky injury that’s a little unpredictable,” Daigneault said.

“I would not say it met or didn’t meet an expectation. We didn’t really have an expectation.”

Giddey won four western conference rookie of the month awards and posted four triple-doubles, the most of any rookie so far this season.

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