This summer, the OKC Thunder made the bold and daring decision to part ways with one of their young, recently selected lottery picks in exchange for a more limited, albeit highly desired veteran role player.
In late June, Oklahoma City and the Chicago Bulls agreed to swap Josh Giddey for Alex Caruso. By and large, the move was universally praised among fans and pundits alike, especially considering neither team was seen coughing up any draft capital in the process.
While such a move could be seen as the Thunder selling low on Giddey, who, despite a rather up-and-down 2023-24 campaign, has proven himself to be a high-upside talent with his combination of size and skill set, the transaction shows that the club is looking to construct a more well-rounded rotation that can be a better fit alongside the club's primary centerpiece, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Coveted complementary contributions are believed to be an efficient ability to space the floor, flourish offensively while off-ball, and, arguably most important, defend at a high-end level.
Giddey may be many things (a solid rebounder, elite dime-dropper, etc.), but none of these aforementioned qualities are viewed as being synonymous with his skills, especially the latter one concerning defensive play. He even made it a point to highlight the differences between him and Caruso on this end of the floor during his debut Media Day panel as a member of the Bulls.
Josh Giddey says he'll 'never be' the defender Thunder's Alex Caruso is
Asked about his desires to become more of a dependable defensive presence heading into his first season in Chicago, Giddey acknowledged that his final season with the Thunder really highlighted the importance for him to become more of a two-way player.
Though he intends to up his efforts on the less glamorous side of the ball, he issued a brutally honest take that could come as a bit disheartening for Bulls faithful but a major confidence boost for Thunder fans.
"Obviously I'm never going to be an Alex Caruso type of defender, you know," Giddey said.
As alluded to earlier, Caruso may have a lower upside than the 6-foot-9 floor general Josh Giddey.
That said, his on-court contributions are valuable to a team that sports a win-now mentality such as OKC, as he's an elite 3-and-D talent who has two All-Defensive team selections and an NBA Championship on his resume as well as a career long-range shooting clip and a defensive rating of 38.0 and 110, respectively.
While Giddey did mention that it's fair to say he's never been seen as "an elite, lock-down defender," he stressed that a reason why he's not very well known for his efforts on that end of the floor is due to the sensational amount of talent he was surrounded by out in Oklahoma City such as SGA, Luguentz Dort, and Chet Holmgren.
"I don't think I was a weak link , but if you look at the defenders we had teams, if they had to go at somebody, it was probably going to be me on that team," Giddey said.
Though this sentiment may have some merit to it, what's exciting to think about is the fact that his replacement in Alex Caruso will be far from a "weak link" on this Thunder team that many believe could now be in the running for the title of greatest defense in league history.