Prior to the start of the 2024-25 season, the Oklahoma City Thunder made two crucial moves that enabled their leap from good to great team. They acquired Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency to patch up their rebounding woes, and then in a bit of a surprise, they traded away Josh Giddey, a member of their prized young core, to the Chicago Bulls in a straight-up deal for Alex Caruso.
Suffice to say, those moves worked out wonderfully for the Thunder. They won the NBA title, with Caruso and Hartenstein being instrumental in that playoff run of theirs. Caruso, in particular, was defending everyone from Nikola Jokic to Tyrese Haliburton. But one has to feel for Giddey — he toiled away on a bad Thunder squad to begin the 2020s, only for him to be the first casualty in OKC's bid to win a title.
Prior to the Bulls' 126-113 win over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday, Giddey admitted that he feels a bit “weird” seeing the Thunder hoist the title considering how fast everything developed.
“It was a weird feeling because I was with them a year ago. I'm very close to all the guys still. To see that was a weird feeling. Obviously, there's zero bad blood there. So I was very very happy,” Giddey told Malika Andrews on ESPN's NBA Today.
Josh Giddey on the Thunder’s NBA championship:
“It was a weird feeling because I was with them a year ago. I'm very close to all the guys still. To see that was a weird feeling. Obviously, there's zero bad blood there. So I was very happy.”
pic.twitter.com/UN5lmyG7CL— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 29, 2025
Giddey's focus will solely be on the Bulls from here on out. But this doesn't mean that he's not rooting for the Thunder any longer. Giddey spent the first three seasons of his career in OKC and developed into an impressive playmaker and stat-sheet stuffer.
At the very least, Giddey will have all the opportunity in the world to blossom into an All-Star with the Bulls, as he's their primary playmaker and lead ballhandler.
Josh Giddey's trade from Thunder to Bulls: for the best for both parties
Towards the end of Giddey's Thunder tenure, he was already being marginalized in the offense. He was playing worse basketball than ever before in the NBA, and it did not help whatsoever that he was going through some off-court issues at the time.
With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being entrusted with primary ballhandling duties, the Thunder decided to trade Giddey away for a better fit in Caruso. This worked out for them, if an NBA championship is any indication. But Giddey is now free to continue on his star trajectory with the Bulls. This is the kind of trade where every party involved seemed to win, although Giddey did lose out on winning a title, so there's that.
