The Oklahoma City Thunder are making a drastic change to their starting lineup for Wednesday night's pivotal Game 5 of their series against the Dallas Mavericks. Josh Giddey will not be part of the first five unit of the Bolts, who are looking to get the series lead back (via Brandon Rahbar of the Daily Thunder).
Thunder make big Josh Giddey decision ahead of Game 5 vs Mavericks
The decision to deny Giddey a chance to start Game 5 has caught many fans surprised. Although Giddey has not been performing at a high level in the series versus the Mavs, the Thunder had stuck with him as a starter –until tonight. Giddey has been replaced, for now at least, in Oklahoma City's starting unit by Isaiah Joe. In four games of the series so far, Giddey has averaged only 6.0 points on a poor 38.5 percent shooting from the floor.
Joe, on the other hand, has been much more efficient on offense than Giddey. Joe has put up 6.5 points in the series while connecting on 52.6 percent of his attempts from the field and 46.2 percent from behind the arc.
The last straw it seems for the Thunder on the Giddey front was the player's poor shooting in Game 4, albeit in a 100-96 win. In that contest, Giddey shot just 2/8 overall and finished with only five points. For what it's worth, Joe was not better in the same game, as he came off the bench and laid an egg on 0/3 shooting from the field — all from the 3-point area.
With Josh Giddey moving to the bench, perhaps temporarily, the Thunder will also have a talented playmaker to run the second unit. That could benefit Oklahoma City's scoring behind the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren, who are the top three scorers of the Thunder in the Mavs series.
Back in the 2023-24 NBA regular season, the 21-year-old Giddey, who was taken sixth overall by the Thunder in the first round of the 2021 NBA Draft, averaged 12.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game, while making over 47 percent of his attempts from the floor overall.
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