Why OKC Thunder Should Keep Josh Giddey in Bench Role

Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault opted to bench the young guard in Game 5, which seemed to be a fairly effective decision.

May 13, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Josh Giddey (3) warms up before the / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Approaching a pivotal Game 5 at home, the Oklahoma City Thunder needed to make changes to give it a better chance at taking the series advantage. This largely came in the form of moving Josh Giddey to the bench, the first time of his three-year career.

The move came after clear struggles from the 21-year-old in the second round, mainly in regards to shooting the basketball. The Dallas Mavericks quickly realized the limitations he has from behind the arc, opting to force him to make them pay. He simply couldn't.

Giddey was left limited on offense in the starting lineup, because without the ball in his hands, there's not a lot he can do to help his team. Oklahoma City lacked floor spacing and 3-point shooting, so after much consideration, head coach Mark Daigneault decided to insert Isaiah Joe in the starting lineup over him.

Did it pay off? Not entirely.

Joe looked far and away from his normal self in Game 5, only scoring six points with a 2-of-8 clip from behind the arc, much below his typical standards. The idea of naming him as a starter was sound logic and it should've increased the Thunder's offensive capabilities by a decent margin, but Joe couldn't execute his role properly.

However, Giddey seemed to thrive much more in a bench role. He led the unit with 11 points, three rebounds and two assists on 5-of-8 shooting, his best game of the series. It was only 11 minutes of action, but that little time allowed him to make an impact without sacrificing his defensive inefficiencies and poor 3-point shooting.

It's easy to look at Joe and Giddey's individual Game 5 performances on paper and say Oklahoma City should go back to what it previously had. But Giddey played considerably better on the bench than he has as a starter, and the decision has given it a better playmaker on the second unit and generated more open looks for the starting unit.

"I just wasn't comfortable doing it up until now," Daigneault said on moving Giddey to the bench. "At the end of the day I'm making a lot of different decisions and they aren't all gonna be right or wrong. I'm doing the best I can and I thought it was the appropriate time to take a look at that."

It's not confirmed if Daigneault will continue moving forward with Giddey on the bench, but in all likelihood, he should. If there isn't as much confidence in Joe then Cason Wallace could be looked at as the next starting shooting guard in line, who would bring added defense to limit Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving's scoring capabilities.

Giddey as a starter proved not to work in the first four games, so even though Game 5's decision didn't result in a win, the Thunder should not resort back to another thing that wasn't paying off. To avoid elimination it has to try anything and everything to climb the hole it's dug, even if that means experimenting even further.

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