Alex Caruso (30 years old), who became a player cult (the Bald Mamba and everything else) in the champion Lakers in 2020 and has played the last three seasons in Chicago Bulls, He finally comes out transferred after living immersed in all the rumorsnoted as one of the most desirable pieces for any title contender: Oklahoma City Thunder wants to be for many years, and has won the guardtwice member of the Best Defensive Quintets (once in the first and once in the second) in exchange for Josh Giddey, the Australian guard who was number 6 in the draft in 2021 and is still 21 years old but whose future seemed to be far from OKC after his problems in the playoffs, where his poor percentages in outside shooting made him lose a lot of weight in the rotation of the team that finished first in the Western Conference in the rregular season but he couldn’t get past the second round, where he ran into Luka Doncic’s Mavericks.
The Thunder, who have an ideal situation in terms of draft rounds with which to negotiate, They have not even had to give any in exchange for a player for whom the Bulls had rejected good offers in previous market windows.. In Chicago they are still determined to compete without going through phases of deep reconstruction, but many of their decisions are very questionable, including this one. Giddey is much younger than Caruso and is a player with potential, who can improve a lot compared to this bad end to the season in another context. And the Bulls haven’t had a true game manager since Lonzo Ball’s injury nightmare began. But, in any case, It seems obvious that they could have operated differently. with a player of Caruso’s market value.
Caruso doesn’t have Giddey’s ability as a playmaker, but he is an ultra-competitive player and with enormous value in today’s NBA. He makes 41% of his three-pointers and last season he was fourth in steals. With him and Lu Dort, the Thunder will have a couple of extraordinary outside defenders, an aspect in which Cason Wallace also shines (who has already been important as rookie in that facet) and the franchise player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, lends a hand, who will have a new category piece in his praetorian guard Caruso will also bring his league experience and championship pedigree, something he achieved in 2020 with the Lakers, where he was part of a historic-level defense. In 2021, however, the Angelenos miscalculated his and Caruso ended up in Chicago, something that many in LA continue to regret.
When six months have passed since the date on which the transfer is made official, Caruso will be able to sign an extension that could reach 80 million for four years. Next year will be the last year of his current contract, and the Thunder obviously intend to negotiate an extension so that he continues beyond the summer of 2025 with the team. Giddey, for his part, can now negotiate the extension of his rookie contract. If he doesn’t reach a deal with the Bulls, he will be a restricted free agent in a year. In Chicago they had not made a transfer that involved player movement for 34 monthsand surely many of his fans will think that it would have been better if he had continued stop the thing in sight a move that, on paper, is very beneficial for the Thunder and not too much for the Bullswhich obtain a questionable return for, surely, the most valuable piece real of market that they had in their staff. For Caruso, finally, the time has come to fight to become NBA champion again.
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