When the Oklahoma City Thunder selected Josh Giddey with the sixth overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, few paid much attention. However, the 6-foot-7 guard from Australia quickly showed during his rookie year that he could become everything his fellow countryman Ben Simmons never did.
Within his first 100 career games, Giddey joined Luka Doncic , Grant Hill and Simmons as the only players in NBA history to record at least 1,000 points, 700 rebounds and 500 assists, early proof that Sam Presti had struck gold on draft night.
Even though he once looked like OKC's nominal second option, by the 2024 playoffs Giddey found himself coming off the bench under coach Mark Daigneault. With questions swirling about his future, Giddey didn't want to wait around as he requested a trade. Presti acted quickly, sending him to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Alex Caruso .
On paper, Caruso wasn't close to Giddey's talent level, but he became one of the crucial pieces that helped the Thunder capture the 2024 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," Giddey told ESPN's Malika Andrews. "If the Bulls didn't win it, I was more than happy for the Thunder. They deserve it. I was more than happy for the players, the fans, and the state. They were the best team all year."
Presti didn't want to break the perfect balance
In hindsight, Presti looks like a genius. But at the time of the trade, he gave up the team's only true floor general, someone who took ball-handling pressure off Shai Gilgeous-Alexander , for an experienced 3-and-D player.
Caruso had long been recognized as one of the league's premier lockdown perimeter defenders, but in terms of pure talent, the gap between him and Giddey was enormous. Still, Presti was thinking years ahead.
At that moment, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren were both developing rapidly. Holmgren, given his injury history, actually looked like the most likely trade candidate, as Presti would eventually face the tough reality of paying four emerging stars at once. That prediction proved true as this past summer, all four signed massive extensions.
Presti believed that moving Giddey would maintain the perfect balance that had kept OKC atop the Western Conference, one elite player at each position group: guard, forward and big. Trading Williams or Holmgren would have destroyed that balance, and boy, was he right.
That 2024 playoff loss to the Dallas Mavericks revealed exactly where Daigneault 's team needed to grow. Giddey's minutes and stats dipped and Oklahoma desperately needed more defense and shooting on the perimeter to open driving lanes for the unstoppable SGA. The answer came in the form of a 2020 NBA champion from the Los Angeles Lakers .
Presti knew he was giving up more talent-wise, but he also cleared cap space and added the missing puzzle piece that completed the roster. Caruso's impact couldn't be captured by box scores, but he was crucial during OKC's championship run, especially in the playoff series against the Denver Nuggets .
Despite being six inches shorter and roughly 100 pounds lighter, Caruso took on the defensive challenge of guarding three-time MVP Nikola Jokic . He frustrated him, forced him to take tough shots and turnovers and shifted momentum in OKC's favor. The rest is history.
LeBron James , who won a title with Caruso in the 2020 Orlando Bubble, praised his former teammate after the Thunder's championship .
"We can look at how great Shai was with obviously J-Dub, obviously Chet, obviously. I think Alex Caruso — he was that guy. He knew how to get there. He knew what it took to get there. He knew how to stay even-keel if there was any adversity. You got to kind of have that one guy, you know, that just makes it all work," James said .
That's the brilliance of Presti, trading away a potential future All-Star entering his prime for a 30-year-old veteran with championship DNA, a player willing to do the dirty work, exactly what OKC had been missing a season earlier. Few general managers would've had the guts to make that move.
Giddey proved himself in Chicago, delivering strong performances that earned him a four-year, $100 million contract this summer. He's carried that form into the start of this season. His lack of bitterness toward Oklahoma and recognition that the trade benefited both sides speak volumes about his maturity and perspective.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Oct 30, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
