NBA Trade Grades: Thunder re-home Josh Giddey for one of league’s most beloved players

Josh Giddey looked like he might be a potential future star with the Oklahoma City Thunder after being selected with the No. 6 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. His height and passing ability were very prevalent and they showed in his statistics, but his shortcomings were even more glaring.

Not only is Giddey a very poor defender, but he's a poor three-point shooter. The 33.7 percent he shot from beyond the arc this past regular season was a career-best, but he did that only 3.0 attempts per game. He was not much of a threat at all from distance which caused teams to ignore him. As a result, his playing time decreased dramatically in the postseason.

Giddey played a decent amount in the first round but only topped 15 minutes once in the six games they played in the second round against the Dallas Mavericks. That right there was a sign. The Thunder were going to move Giddey this offseason, especially with a massive pay raise coming up in the not-too-distant future. The only question was what would the Thunder receive in return?

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski answered that question, as the Thunder agreed to a deal on Thursday with the Chicago Bulls.

NBA Trade Grades: Thunder acquire Alex Caruso in swap of guards

The deal is a simple one-for-one. Giddey was traded to the Bulls for Alex Caruso.

For the Thunder, it's easy to see why they did this trade. Caruso is everything Giddey is not. He might not be the passer or rebounder that Giddey is, but he can defend at an all-defense team level, and can shoot as well. He's extremely valuable because of those two things, even if the box score doesn't quite show it.

The 30-year-old averaged a career-high 10.1 points per game this past season and shot an impressive 40.8 percent from three-point range on 4.7 attempts. You'd have to think that his attempts and percentage will only improve with more room to operate thanks to the players he'd be playing with. Additionally, he made the All-Defensive Second Team.

He won't be asked to do much more than defend the opposition's best player and knock down open shots, which is the perfect role for him. He's proven time and time again that he can do both of those things at a high level, and he even won an NBA Championship with the Los Angeles Lakers as a key role player for them. The Thunder have star-level players surrounding him, and enough playmaking to survive the loss of Giddey. It's a match made in heaven.

While the Thunder did a fantastic job in this trade, the Bulls deserve some credit too. Giddey is a player with tons of potential. In the 2022-23 campaign, he averaged 16.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game. His numbers took a bit of a hit this past season as the Thunder had more mouths to feed, but Giddey has All-Star potential if he can improve his shot and his defense.

The Bulls cannot rely on any sort of output from Lonzo Ball, so they have their point guard of the future now in Giddey. While it's a bit disappointing that they didn't get a pick of any kind alongside Giddey for Caruso, getting an impressive 21-year-old who was just a sixth-overall pick not too long ago for a role player (a high-level one albeit), is solid business.

The Thunder win this deal as Caruso makes them even bigger NBA Champion threats, but don't be surprised if Giddey steps his game up with a larger role in Chicago.

Thunder trade grade: A
Bulls trade grade: B+