The Chicago Bulls may have just bagged a 21-year-old future All-Star in their recent trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder, but some fans and analysts feel like the Bulls got the short end of the stick.
On Thursday, the Bulls sent Alex Caruso packing to OKC in exchange for the young and talented Josh Giddey. Hours after Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news, Bulls Nation erupted in collective frustration upon discovering that the deal did not include any draft picks.
Darnell Mayberry, Bulls senior writer for The Athletic, didn’t mince words about his disappointment with Chicago’s front office. “Chicago, meanwhile, has more questions that need to be answered,” Mayberry said. “After stubbornly holding onto Caruso through last season, the Bulls parted with perhaps their best asset and didn’t receive any future draft capital — from a franchise in possession of an army of picks.”
Trading Caruso instead of attempting to retain and extend him this summer signals that the Bulls are leaning towards a rebuild. If they were serious about staying in win-now mode for the 2024-25 season, trading away one of the NBA’s top perimeter defenders for a player whose prime is still on the horizon would make little sense.
A successful NBA rebuild typically requires a healthy collection of draft picks, and it’s hard to fathom that the Bulls couldn’t find a trade partner willing to offer both a young player and draft capital for Caruso. Recent reports have surfaced indicating that the Bulls turned down a trade offer involving a top-10 pick for Caruso last season, adding fuel to the fire of criticism.
Mayberry and other critics suggest that the Bulls might have waited too long to make their move. Now, with no draft picks coming in from the Thunder, Chicago’s front office is under scrutiny, leaving fans to wonder if they truly got fleeced in the Caruso-Giddey deal.
Only time will tell if Giddey turns into the star the Bulls hope he will be, but for now, the fanbase is left scratching their heads and questioning the front office’s strategy.
