Chicago Bulls trade veteran defensive star Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Josh Giddey

The Chicago Bulls made their first move in a turning point of an offseason Thursday, trading defensive star Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for shooting guard Josh Giddey, a source confirmed to the Tribune.

The news was first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Entering his fourth year in the league at 21, Giddey was the No. 6 selection in the 2021 draft after a promising start to his career in Australia. Despite averaging 16.6 points and 6.2 assists in a strong sophomore season, he sometimes struggled to find his footing with the Thunder despite the team’s rising success behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren. Giddey averaged 12.3 points and 4.8 assists in 25.1 minutes while shooting 33.7% on 3-pointers in the 2023-24 season.

This is the first deal the Bulls front office has made for a player since August 2021 after standing pat for three consecutive trade windows. And the move reflects a promise made by executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas to “explore all options” in restructuring the roster after the team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

Caruso, 30, earned All-Defense Second Team honors for two consecutive seasons after serving as the cornerstone of the Bulls defense for three years. Despite struggling with availability because of lingering injuries, Caruso had a career-high 120 blocks and 70 blocks last season while averaging 1.7 steals (third in the league) and 3.7 deflections (first in the league) and also improving his 3-point-shooting percentage to 40.8%. The guard will provide a valuable contribution to a young Thunder squad that fell just short in a Western Conference semifinals matchup against the Dallas Mavericks.

With a Caruso trade secured, the Bulls will now turn their attention to other crucial pieces — including a potential trade for Zach LaVine and the re-signing of DeMar DeRozan and Patrick Williams — ahead of next week’s draft.