The NBA news continues to trickle down as the first move of the NBA offseason is officially made ahead of the 2024 NBA draft. The Chicago Bulls and the Oklahoma City Thunder have agreed to a trade as Alex Caruso is sent to the Thunder in exchange for Josh Giddey. Both players are currently entering the final year of their respective contracts.
The Chicago Bulls find a playmaker to replace Lonzo Ball as he is still recovering from multiple knee surgeries while the Thunder get one of the league’s most coveted bench players. This is an intriguing trade so let’s explore it from each side.
What does this mean for the Oklahoma City Thunder?
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The Oklahoma City Thunder have a young core with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading the way and they do not have a lot of veteran experience. Alex Caruso provides a stable bench option as last season he finished with 10.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.0 blocks and 1.7 steals per game in 28.7 minutes per game.
The Thunder also have one of the largest cap rooms right now and Alex Caruso is eligible for a four-year contract for approximately $20 million per year in six months from when the trade is finalized. With the incredible trade assets with the number of draft picks that general manager Sam Presti has accumulated, they can continue to add talent around their young core to take them over the top of the Western Conference.
This Oklahoma City team has done well and now has some postseason experience as they try to topple the likes of the Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, and Minnesota Timberwolves heading into next season. This move doesn’t necessarily move the needle too much for the Thunder but could be a step in the right direction to build off the best record in the Western Conference last season.
What does this mean for the Chicago Bulls?
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The Chicago Bulls add a young talent in Josh Giddey to potentially take over the starting point guard role that Lonzo Ball has not been able to fill in the last few seasons. If the team is trying to keep the core of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic together for another season, this is something that the Bulls could use to help going forward.
Giddey played decently well last season with the Thunder as in 25.2 minutes he averaged 12.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 0.6 blocks and 0.7 steals with a 47.5/33.7/80.6 shooting split. He also played in 10 playoff games and shot 35.3% from beyond the arc in 18.1 minutes of action.
With Lonzo Ball’s contract officially coming off the books at the end of the 2024-25 season and Josh Giddey being a restricted free agent at that time, the Bulls now get the ability to match any offers he gets to keep Giddey on the team. This seems more of a future move than a move for the 2024-25 NBA season but having the Bulls in the hunt for one of the play-in tournament spots next season, this could be a valuable piece off the bench or plugged into the starting spot with Torrey Craig the current starting point guard.
About the Author
Vincent Pensabene graduated from Saint Leo University in 2019 with a B.A. in Sport Business and has focused on the media side of sports. He writes for multiple publications and is interested in the reasoning of why things happen. Feel free to follow him on social media @TalkVinTalk and discuss all things sports.
