Bulls-Thunder Trade: Team grades in five-player deal

Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott, and a 2018 second-round pick have been shipped off in a trade to Oklahoma City for Cameron Payne, Anthony Morrow and Joffrey Lauvergne. We’ve got grades for both sides of the deal.

It wasn’t exactly the Bulls trade that we’ve been waiting for, but the Chicago Bulls have made a trade!

First reported by The Vertical’s Shams Charania, the Bulls are sending Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott and a 2018 second-round pick to the Thunder for Cameron Payne, Joffrey Lauvergne, and Anthony Morrow.

Chicago was anxious to get something in return for Gibson, who was a big threat to walk for nothing in free agency this summer. This isn’t exactly the package we were expecting, though.

Most Bulls fans spent the day anxiously checking Twitter to see whether or not star player Jimmy Butler would end up being shipped to somewhere like Boston, but instead, we’re faced with the loss of Taj Gibson, the longest tenured Chicago Bull and one of the most universally respected guys to go through the organization.

Butler will stay in Chicago for now, but Gibson and McDermott will head to OKC to join forces with Russell Westbrook and Victor Oladipo. In exchange, the Bulls get another point guard prospect in Payne, and downgrade replacements for Gibson and McDermott in Joffrey Lauvergne and Anthony Morrow.

Let’s grade the deal for both sides, starting with the away team.