JOSH Giddey might have the basketball world at his feet, but those feet remain firmly grounded in what made him an NBA star.
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The Oklahoma City Thunder young gun joined hundreds of young basketballers in Ballarat on Wednesday for a special school holiday clinic, signing hundreds of jerseys, photographs and anything the youngsters would put in front of him.
He also joined in with Ballarat Miners players and coaches throughout the day for a clinic where youngsters aged eight up were given a first-hand opportunity to learn from a young Australian at the top of the game, having been chosen as the sixth pick in the NBA Draft in 2021.
Giddey, along with his father, 449-game NBL legend Warrick Giddey, have been running a series of camps for young players.
"This is the third of the camps we've done in Melbourne and Geelong," he said. "It's a great opportunity for me to come home and see these kids in the same spot I was not all that long ago."
Giddey, who is just 20, said he was keen to pass on what he has learned in his young career to date of 130 games for the Thunder.
"There's a lot of little things I would do at these camps when I was 10, 12 or 15 years old," he said.
"I took a lot of the things I learned from these camps and took them forward. The kids today are going to have a great opportunity to learn, not just from myself, but all the great coaches we have today. Hopefully they can take one or two things going forward and keep getting better with their game.
"It's a surreal feeling to see the faces on the kids, because I was one of those kids not long ago. I know how it is to see your idols that you love to watch.
"I loved to meet my favourite players, I'm glad I have the opportunity now to come back and give to these kids here today and hopefully help them and give them something they might remember for the rest of their lives."
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Giddey described the NBA experience as something completely different.
"It's been a whirlwind couple of years, obviously moving to the other side of the world, it's changed my whole lifestyle in getting into what is NBA life," he said.
"I head to Vegas on Wednesday for about a week for summer league, then I come back to Melbourne, then we've got Boomers camp up in Cairns, then back to Melbourne and off to Japan. It's going to be a huge couple of months with a World Cup coming up."
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