The Chicago Bulls have unloaded three-fifths of their 2021-22 squad, the last to take the franchise to the playoffs. DeMar DeRozan was sent to the Sacramento Kings last summer in a sign-and-trade that netted Chicago Chris Duarte and two second-round picks. The Bulls finally found a suitor for Zach LaVine—the Kings again—at last year’s trade deadline.

But the first domino to fall was guard Alex Caruso. On June 21 of last year, Arturas Karnisovas and the team’s much-maligned front office sent the veteran guard to the Oklahoma City Thunder in an equally maligned trade that brought back 22-year-old point guard Josh Giddey. It was the first clear sign that the Bulls were finally relenting and starting a retooling process, if not a rebuild.

The trade had far more detractors than supporters at the time, and as Caruso shows off his defensive chops on a national stage as the Thunder make a run at an NBA championship, those detractors are coming out of the woodwork again. Loudly. But the Bulls don’t have much to be ashamed of.

Josh Giddey-Alex Caruso trade has worked as planned for the Bulls

Chicago got a star role player on a team-friendly contract when Caruso signed a four-year, $37 million deal ahead of that 2021-22 campaign, but Lonzo Ball’s knee injury changed the trajectory of that group.

After two subsequent years of sub-.500 records and back-to-back Play-In Tournament exits, Chicago faced a crossroads: Stick with the DeRozan, Caruso, LaVine, Ball and Nikola Vucevic core that was aging, repeatedly injured and had clearly stagnated, or start making changes.

Karnisovas chose the latter. His first move was to deal the 29-year-old Caruso, who had two seasons and $19.4 million left on his contract, to the Thunder for Giddey.

By the end of his first campaign with the Bulls, Giddey had gone from (rightly) unplayable in crunch time in OKC to helping lead Chicago to the league’s fifth-best record after the All-Star break, including a 15-5 finish to the year. He nearly averaged a triple-double in his last 19 games.

Most critically, his struggles as a three-point shooter—one of the biggest reasons the Thunder were ready to turn the page—were quelled as he shot 45.7 percent from deep in those last 19 games. Giddey shot 31.0 percent from three in Oklahoma City; that percentage jumped to 37.8 with the Bulls.

His 6-foot-8 size, rebounding and passing IQ are a perfect fit for Billy Donovan’s newly installed run-and-gun transition scheme, which helped Chicago score 117.8 points per game, the sixth-most in the league last year.

Caruso, meanwhile, has not-so-surprisingly shone in his role as a defensive menace for the Thunder. Case in point: Game 3 of OKC’s series against the Memphis Grizzlies on April 24.

That brought back some of the original haters of the Giddey-Caruso swap, like ESPN reporters Brian Windhorst, Tim McMahon and Tim Bontemps, who went to task on Chicago for not getting more than just Giddey from the Thunder.

Should the Bulls have gotten some of Oklahoma City’s massive stash of draft picks in the deal? Yeah, probably. But what, exactly, would keeping Caruso have done for Chicago? Would his lockdown defense have proven indispensable to the Bulls’ third straight Play-In run?

Hindsight is 20/20, but Chicago had no use for Caruso on its roster. The subsequent trades of DeRozan and LaVine were evidence of where the Bulls are headed as a franchise. Giddey is eight years younger and coming off a career season as a developing point guard who fits squarely on Chicago’s timeline and in its scheme.

Getting rid of Caruso in favor of Giddey shouldn’t be giving the Bulls nightmares. It’s not like they handed the Thunder Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and seven potential first-round picks.