“That’s who I am as a player and to do that is exciting.”
While there was no guarantee Josh Giddey was going to be traded by the Oklahoma City Thunder this offseason, there was always a sense a fresh start was in his best interests.
Giddey said as much himself, without actually saying that explicitly.
That earlier quote came from the 21-year-old’s exit interview last month, where an honest Giddey opened up on how he handled his “rollercoaster” third year in the NBA.
While the majority of the questions put to him that day centred around his playoff benching against Dallas and future in Oklahoma City, he was also asked about the upcoming Paris Olympics.
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‘This is no indictment on Josh’ | 06:21
Specifically, one reporter wondered whether suiting up for the Boomers could help him build towards next season, although of course at this point it was in the context of playing for OKC.
“It’s a different role,” Giddey said.
“I’m going to have the ball in my hands a lot more with Australia, initiating the offence and setting guys up.
“That’s who I am as a player and to do that is exciting.”
That’s who I am. Those four words, even in the context of a question about the Boomers, were yet another reminder of why it didn’t work out for Giddey in what we now know was his final year with the Thunder, after being traded on Friday to the Chicago Bulls in a deal that sees Alex Caruso sent to Oklahoma City.
That is who Giddey is and always was as a player. But he wasn’t that player in a Thunder team that was spoilt for choice when it came to playmaking options.
When you combine Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s rapid rise to superstardom with the emergence of Jalen Williams and rookie big man Chet Holmgren, Giddey was the odd man out — forced to play in a role that didn’t play to his strengths.
Those same strengths which Giddey flashed in his Boomers debut at the FIBA World Cup last year, thriving in a more ball-dominant role as he finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists in a 98-72 win over Finland.
With it, Giddey became the first player in the 21st century to have more than 10 points, five rebounds and five assists in their first World Cup game since, you guessed it, LeBron James.
And Giddey was constantly rewriting the record books and putting his name among legendary ones like LeBron in his rookie year with Oklahoma City, again, when he was playing in a role that was better suited to his game.
All of this is to say that as much as Giddey loved it in Oklahoma City and the Thunder loved him back, this was a move that had to happen for both parties.
Here, foxsports.com.au breaks down what the trade means for both the Thunder and Bulls along with what Australian NBA fans can expect from Giddey in his first season in new colours.
SO, FIRST OFF — WHO WON THE TRADE?
Look, some trades that initially look terrible can look like masterstrokes in hindsight.
The Bulls will be hoping this is one of those instances because even if Giddey goes back to playing the way he did in his first two seasons with OKC, this is a slam dunk win for the Thunder.
That is not an indictment on Giddey as a player or his talent but on a Bulls front office that has seemingly come around to the realisation they need to re-tool an aging roster that has for a few seasons now not really been in a position to compete for a title.
And yet, despite that glaring reality, Chicago continually ran it back and decided against making any major moves at the trade deadline in the hope of potentially becoming more than just a team that settles for making the first round of the playoffs.
But even that would be a win for a Bulls team that has only qualified for the first round once in the past five years.
Instead, the introduction of the NBA’s play-in tournament has given Chicago an even lower bar to settle for, keeping the franchise stuck on a treadmill of mediocrity.
What makes this trade particularly had for Bulls fans to take is reporting from Will Gottlieb of CHGO, who wrote earlier this week that the team had “received offers from multiple teams, consisting of multiple protected first-round picks ahead of the 2024 Trade Deadline”.
So, why didn’t they take that? Well, a source told Gottlieb that such a move would mean immediately trying to find a replacement for Caruso, which would have been the logical next step if the Bulls were rebuilding.
However, Gottlieb reported the source said there was a “mandate” from Bulls CEO Michael Reinsdorf to fight for the playoffs.
Again, another example of the disconnect in the Bulls front office when it came to what they wanted this team to be and what it actually is.
Bulls Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas appeared to signal after the team’s play-in tournament exit last season that reality had dawned on the franchise.
“We aren’t here for the play-in,” he said.
“It’s a team game and we have to make changes to fix things.”
“Analysis will start right now and go into free agency,” he added when asked if a rebuild was a possibility.
“I think we’re going to be pretty aggressive, the way we showed before going into the draft and free agency. We obviously can’t roll (out) the same team again and expect different results.”
The Giddey move may just be the start, but you still have to question how the Bulls weren’t able to get more for a player of Caruso’s calibre, especially when you consider the multitude of picks Oklahoma City has at its disposal.
ESPN’s front office insider Bobby Marks, for example, revealed that when the trade went down he received texts from two different general managers.
Both asked the same question: what draft picks were involved? That says it all.
Perhaps that says as much about Chicago’s confidence in Giddey’s potential as a primary ballhandler as it does the power of Thunder GM Sam Presti to get a deal done.
Because for a guy who continues to impress with his shrewd decision-making, this is another home run swing for Presti and the Thunder.
Caruso is the kind of high-level 3-and-D player that any contending team would be desperate to have and for the Thunder in particular it is a seamless fit.
The 30-year-old is coming off a season where he had a career-high 120 steals and 70 blocks while shooting 40.8 per cent from downtown.
Shooting and defence, on the other hand, were Giddey’s two biggest weaknesses and were exposed down the stretch in the playoffs.
Add in the factor Caruso will earn just $9.9 million next season and the leadership he will bring to this young but emerging Thunder roster and this could be the move to help Oklahoma City take the next step towards title contention after coming up short in the Western Conference semi-finals this year.
WHAT COMES NEXT FOR GIDDEY AND THE BULLS?
Well, the move away from a 30-year-old win-now piece in Caruso to more of a developmental player in Giddey suggests there could be plenty more roster movement this offseason in Chicago.
That is especially true when you consider the fact the only way Giddey will get his hands on the ball more is if the Bulls move on from either Zach LaVine or DeMar DeRozan, or potentially both.
LaVine looks the most likely candidate to be traded, with NBC Sports Chicago’s K.C. Johnson reporting before the Giddey news that Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas has “floated as many as 15 proposals” around LaVine.
It isn’t surprising to hear that sort of desperation coming from Chicago with the NBA Draft fast-approaching, where the Bulls should be targeting young players to bolster their frontcourt as well as size and versatility on the wing.
While the expectation was that Chicago would have been able to get at least some draft compensation in a deal for Caruso, moving on from LaVine at least opens up another opportunity to do that before next Thursday’s first round.
It will be hard to get much in return though given it is hardly a secret that the Bulls want to get off LaVine’s contract, with the 29-year-old still owed $138 million ($A207m) over the next three years.
DeRozan, meanwhile, is off-contract this summer and the Bulls reportedly offered a two-year, $40 million extension to his management in April.
Both parties seem to be interested in running it back but it may end up being a matter of how much the Bulls are willing to offer.
Evan Sidery of Forbes Sports, meanwhile, reported Chicago “appear willing” to part with Nikola Vucevic “for the right price”.
And of course, outside of LaVine, DeRozan and Vucevic, then there is the matter of Lonzo Ball’s near two-year-long recovery from a knee injury.
The move for Giddey indicates the Bulls are pessimistic, or at least covering their bases, given the uncertain nature of Ball’s timeline, with Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic reporting the team expects him to return at some point during the 2025 season.
“Team officials are confident Ball will play next season. They’re just not as confident about when,” Mayberry wrote, adding on Friday that a trade or buyout “could be likely”.
Giddey can absolutely co-exist alongside breakout guard Coby White, who emerged as a key piece of Chicago’s future last season and is a solid off-ball shooter.
It gives the Bulls a young backcourt duo to build around, should they find a trade partner for LaVine, while Ayo Dosunmu also flashed his potential last year in a bigger role.
The main focus, outside of improving the frontcourt, should be on trying to put shooting around Giddey given White and Dosunmu were the only two players currently on the roster to make at least 100 3-pointers last season.
The team, as a whole, ranked 25th and 26th in the league for 3-pointer attempted and made respectively.
The other question is what happens with Giddey’s contract given the Australian is still eligible to negotiate a rookie-scale extension.
If he can’t come to an agreement with the Bulls by the day before the start of regular season, when rookie-scale extensions must be signed by, he will be a restricted free agent in the summer of 2025.
HOW WILL GIDDEY BE REMEMBERED IN OKLAHOMA CITY?
Obviously that playoff series against the Mavericks isn’t the way Giddey would have liked to have ended his Oklahoma City career, but you have to remember two things.
First, those 76 minutes were only a small fraction of what was otherwise a memorable first few years in the NBA for Giddey, who became the youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double and continued to break records in a rookie season that exceeded all expectations.
Second, it is easy to forget Giddey is still only 21 years old, turning 22 at the start of next season in October.
In other words, while he may currently have limitations on the defensive end and as a shooter, he still has plenty of time to develop his game in that capacity.
“He’s 21, so 21-year-olds generally have up-and-down years,” Thunder GM Presti said of Giddey at his exit interview.
“… But at 21 years old, he’s stubborn. When I say stubborn, I mean that in an endearing way. He’s confident. In the way that I think a lot of people would like to see him capitulate and give in, he’s not doing that.”
And as much as commentary on Giddey in his final season at OKC focused on his shortcomings, there is a reason the Thunder drafted him with the sixth overall pick in a move that many people in NBA circles believed was a reach at the time.
Obviously that all starts with the Australian’s unique court vision and playmaking, which again remains his greatest strength but wasn’t as necessary in this version of the Thunder.
What makes Giddey a particularly intriguing player though is the fact you get that kind of playmaking from a guy who is 6-foot-8 and can rebound the ball the way he can.
His basketball IQ is also far beyond his years, as is his emotional maturity, which the 21-year-old proved in his exit interview last month when discussing his benching against Dallas.
You only have to compare the way Giddey reacted to the adversity, speaking about wanting to be a “better teammate”, with that of the more experienced Gordon Hayward, who bemoaned not being “given much of an opportunity” despite not really proving he deserved that.
Or the fact Giddey was willing to help support a Thunder fan in need, even if that same fan was highly critical of him on social media during his turbulent third season with the team.
While some people may look at Giddey’s limitations as one of the main reasons the Thunder fell short of competing for a championship, it is sometimes lost in the noise that he actually improved as a 3-point shooter on the season as a whole.
Giddey had shot 26.3 per cent and 32.5 per cent from 3-point range in his first two seasons with the team and improved to a career-best 33.7 per cent.
Meanwhile, Giddey was particularly effective across the board in March with Gilgeous-Alexander injured, again proving how good he can be when playing on the ball more.
JOSH GIDDEY IN MARCH vs REST OF THE REGULAR SEASON
Points: 16.3 vs 11.6
Rebounds: 7.0 vs 6.3
Assists: 5.5 vs 4.8
FG%: 57.2 vs 44.4
3P%: 41.4 vs 31.2
And just a week before the start of the Western Conference semi-finals, Giddey was coming off a New Orleans series where he averaged 12.5 points and shot 50 per cent from deep.
A limited sample size sure, but just another reminder of what Giddey can be when playing a confident and aggressive style of basketball.
All of this is to say at just 21 years old and with the postseason experience he had at Oklahoma City, there is plenty of room for Giddey to grow.
Like his early years with the Thunder, Giddey shapes as a key piece of a Chicago team that may be soon forging a new identity.
But for Giddey, this move isn’t about finding his identity as a basketball player. It has always been there.
Giddey knows who he is as a player. A fresh start will give him the opportunity to lean into that even more, as will be the case next month in Paris.
As Giddey would say, “that is exciting”.