Giddey voted into NBA rookies second team

The guard won four Western Conference rookie of the month awards but was pipped to the first team spot by Houston's Jalen Green, whose only monthly award came when Giddey was injured.

The decision, tweeted by The Athletic's high-profile basketball journalist Shams Charania, drew a pair of crying-laughing emoji faces from Giddey himself in a cheeky response.

It comes after Giddey admitted he was disappointed to be overlooked for one of three nominations for the Rookie of the Year award last month.

"I missed a lot of games, which I understand, it is what it is. But I don't want to dig too much into it," Giddey said then.

"Looking back in five or 10 years, it's not going to bother me, so it sucks, it is disappointing, but we move on."

In January the 19-year-old Giddey became the youngest player to register an NBA triple-double, a hip injury ending his season prematurely with a stat line of 12.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 7.6 assists per game.

Alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giddey gave the Thunder plenty to look forward to during a 24-58 season.

Green (17.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists) meanwhile was part of the only team to finish below them in the West, the Rockets slumping to a 20-62 campaign.

But Green's efforts were still enough to win over the voting media and broadcasters, who were asked to select their five-man rookie first and second teams.

Players received two points for each first team vote and one for each second team vote, Giddey collecting 24 first-team votes and 74 second team votes for a combined total of 122 votes.

Green (58 first-team votes and 42 second-team votes) won 158 votes, while Eastern Conference trio Scottie Barnes, Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley (200 votes) were all unanimously awarded 100 first-team votes.

Orlando's Franz Wagner was the other first-team selection, while Herbert Jones, Bones Hyland, Ayo Dosunmu and Chris Duarte joined Giddey in the reserves.

Australian Associated Press