Josh Giddey should be fully recovered from ankle injury before season start

Josh Giddey ruptured his ankle ligament during Australia’s stint in this past summer’s Paris Olympics. Despite spending the past months in recovery, the new Bulls recruit has opened up to the press about his current situation, and assured everyone around that he is on track to be available for his club by the start of this upcoming NBA season.  

It was during their matchup against Serbia, where the Aussie guard rolled his ankle and fell to injury. That night, he remained on the court and witnessed how the Boomers lost this 95-90 quarter-final clash after giving up a 24-point lead against the Europeans.

Once eliminated from the competition, he flew back to Melbourne with his teammates and reviewed his scans through medical scans, which indicated he suffered serious damage to his anterior talofibular ligament. Two months later, he’s still closing to the end of his rehabilitation.

The Bulls made a calculated decision that downgraded their defense when they traded Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey.

But the cracks go deeper — and Billy Donovan made it clear this roster will struggle to overcome its deficiencies.@byjuliapoe's story.https://t.co/Bcme5EC7mI

— Chicago Tribune Sports (@ChicagoSports) October 1, 2024

That first month after the Olympics, the young star spent it recovering in Australia before finally returning back to his new home in Chicago, where the city’s franchise acquired him in a trade with Oklahoma City for veteran Alex Caruso.

During the team’s media day, he cleared the air. “(The ankle) is getting better, it’s getting to the point where I’m almost back out there,” Josh revealed this week. “Because we’ve got time on our side at this point of the off-season, we’re just making sure it’s 100 per cent before we get back into playing. Everything’s been great, rehab’s going well and I’m looking forward to getting back out there.”

Giddey expects to be ready for action for the Bull’s first regular-season match against the Pelicans on October 24. “It’s probably at a point where if it was a play-off game I’d be out there playing but because we’re in the off-season, this isn’t something that you want to rush,” he assured.

After Australia’s successful Olympic run in Tokyo four years ago, Josh admitted his disappointment after losing to Serbia. “That was a game that sat with me for weeks after it happened. It was probably for me the most heartbreaking loss of my career,” he expressed. “We had every opportunity to win that game and move onto the semi-finals to kind of end the Olympic campaign that way was very hard.”

Giddey hopes to replace Caruso’s role as an elite perimeter defender and achieve his maximum potential in Chicago

Even though he’s mostly known for his excellent vision and passing game, the Australian is expecting to fill in the shoes of Alex Caruso. The thing is, the new Thunder star was considered one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, and Giddey still needs to put in a lot of work on defense.

The player acknowledged that this is a department he wishes to improve his game on. “I had a lot of conversations with Mark (Daigneault, Thunder coach) when I was in Oklahoma and there comes a point in a players’ career when the fork is put in the road with where you’re at defensively,” he said.

Now that he’s set for many years in Illinois, he knows that he must become a leader and inspire his teammates. “You don’t want to get to a point in your career where you’re known as the weak link on that end of the floor,” Josh said when addressing the huge responsibility that is being placed on his shoulders this season.

The 21-year-old is coming from a less impressive campaign, in comparison to his sophomore season. However, after three years in Oklahoma, he’s produced career averages of 13.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game after 210 NBA appearances.