OKC Thunder Trading Josh Giddey Remains Win For All Sides After Extension

One of the NBA's many summer-time soap operas has come to an end. The Chicago Bulls and Josh Giddey ended their stalemate on Tuesday with the Windy City Crew issuing Giddey a four-year $100 million contract, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.

Just in: Restricted free agent Josh Giddey has reached agreement on a four-year, $100 million deal to re-sign with the Chicago Bulls, agent Daniel Moldovan of Lighthouse Sports Management tells ESPN. pic.twitter.com/RtJqf7P679
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 9, 2025

This of course, a year after the Oklahoma City Thunder shipped the No. 6 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft to Chicago in favor of defensive-ace Alex Caruso in a rare one-for-one swap. The OKC Thunder went on to win its first title in team history while Giddey enjoyed a career year with the Bulls playing a more natural role.

Things did not work out for Giddey in Bricktown. They were never going to. His fit alongside Gilgeous-Alexander was already dicey before Jalen Williams made his leap into a ball-dominate No. 2 option. This left Giddey in an awkward off-ball role which highlighted all his flaws and neutered his strengths. So much so that the ending got messy, with Mark Daigneault electing to bench the former lottery pick in the 2024 NBA Playoffs during Oklahoma City's second-round loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

Nothing was going to change by giving the still young point guard more time. Oklahoma City offered Giddey a bench role that wasn't appealing for the Australian at the time entering a contract year. He won that bet on himself, whatever production - or lack thereof - he would've found in Bricktown wouldn't have netted him $100 million.

In turn, the Oklahoma City Thunder wouldn't have been able to bag a Larry O'Brien trophy without Caruso. After putting the veteran on ice for a large portion of the regular season, he came to life in the postseason and made timely buckets and racked up plenty of stops to elevate some of the Thunder's offensive struggles in the playoffs to get over the hump and win the Finals.

One of the biggest moments of the 2025 postseason was Caruso's defense on Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic in Oklahoma City's hard fought second round series win, particularly in Game 7.

This is a trade both sides do ten times over. Chicago is going no where fast and would rather have the gamble on the young talent alongside a guard whisper Hall of Fame coach and Oklahoma City remains in win now mode and needed a veteran that has been to the mountain top to join their core.

Personally for Giddey, the second half of his season bolstered his case to win this stand-off with the Bulls and fetch him a massive payday. Perhaps in a decrepit Eastern Conference the 22-year-old can crack his first All-Star team of his career should he be able to parlay those finals 20 contests into long-term success.

Since the All-Star break, Giddey posted 21 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists per game while shootign 50% from the floor, 45% from 3-point land and 80% from the charity stripe.

Now the young guard has long-term security both financially and in his role, which is new-found territory for him. While questions remain about how his game translates to the postseason you can see a path to Chicago building around him especially in the East.

Meanwhile, the Thunder are posied to defend their title with Caruso playing a massive role come the summer months. This trade remains a win for all sides as each party got what they wanted out of the deal.