Oklahoma City Thunder star Josh Giddey and Utah Jazz legend Karl Malone are very similar.
On the court, both men built reputations for themselves as extremely versatile talents that could influence every aspect of the game.
One fun fact that really underscores how similar the two men’s ability to impact their respective squads offensively could be is their propensity for recording triple-doubles.
Back in 2022, Giddey became the youngest player in league history to record a triple-double when he dropped 17 points, 13 boards and 14 dimes during a game against the Dallas Mavericks.
At the time, Giddey was just 19 years old and 84 days.
Malone, meanwhile, etched his name into the NBA record books for something similar. He became the oldest player in league history to record a triple-double when he did it against the San Antonio Spurs in 2003.
At the time, Malone was playing for the Los Angeles Lakers and still balling out at the ripe old age of 40 years and 127 days.
Impressive stuff.
Off the court, it is increasingly looking like Malone and Giddey may have some similarities as well. The two major controversies that always followed Malone around were the disturbing thing he said to Vanessa Bryant and the fact that he impregnated a 13-year-old girl when he was a grown man.
Giddey, meanwhile, has found himself in the middle of a media firestorm this week for something analogous to that. On Thursday, reports surfaced that his alleged girlfriend may be a minor.
Shortly after that news dropped, troubling videos and photos of him and the girl came out. And not long after that, Giddey’s best friend on the Thunder deleted some very specific tweets about him.
All of that paints a troubling picture.
Josh Giddey’s New Troubling Video With Alleged GF Liv Cook: https://t.co/7wmrBLFjcp
— Game 7 (@game7__) November 24, 2023
And for obvious reasons – multiple comparisons between Giddey and Malone have been made over the past 24 hours.
The big difference here, of course, is that what the latter did is a fact. What the former has or hasn’t done hasn’t been confirmed yet.
Will Giddey ultimately be able to rid himself of the unfortunate off-the-court connections that people are making between him and Malone? Time will tell.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
