Last summer, the Chicago Bulls traded Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Josh Giddey. Why Chicago's front office couldn't extract even a single draft selection from the pick-laden Thunder is confusing at best, but it's too late to look back at the befuddling details of that move now.
The thinking was that since the Bulls were going to be rebuilding—or at least beginning to retool—bringing in a distressed asset like Giddey, a jumbo point guard with uncanny passing skills who could lead the team's new up-tempo offense, was worth parting ways with a win-now player like Caruso.
Giddey has been up and down this season. He's only 22 years old and has flashed the abilities that made him a top-10 draft pick in Oklahoma City. However, he's also shown the warts that motivated the Thunder to move on from him, mainly his slow-footedness and lack of a jump shot.
Coby White, meanwhile, had a career year in 2023-24, and the Bulls hoped he would build on that this season. With Zach LaVine's resurgent campaign and Lonzo Ball's unexpected steadiness and health, White has been forced to fit in rather than stand out. The runway is clear now, though, after the franchise dealt LaVine to the Sacramento Kings.
The No. 1 offensive option is White's role to take, but he may simply not be talented enough to be a go-to scorer in the NBA. That's no slight; not many players are. But if he isn't, the Bulls don't have one on the roster. And if Giddey can't cement himself as the point guard of the future, Chicago has a major question mark at that spot, too.
Based on the pair's recent play, that may be far more than just a question mark.
Coby White, Josh Giddey proving unfit for long-term roles in Chicago
Since trading LaVine, the Bulls are 0-4, lost a game by 40 points, are losing by an average of 24.5 points and have been outscored by 77 points in 48 minutes across two games.
It's fair to say Chicago has gotten, or at least is playing, dramatically worse since it traded its best offensive player.
Theoretically, though, other players should be thriving in expanded roles, Giddey and White in particular. Unfortunately for the Bulls, that's been far, far from the reality.
Over the team's last 10 games—so even before the LaVine move—White (-13.9) and Giddey (-11.1) are last on Chicago's roster in plus-minus. Both have been respectable on offense, which only proves how awful they've been on defense.
Excluding Talen Horton-Tucker, who's only played four of those 10 games, White (127.2) and Giddey (123.2) are last and second to last, respectively, in defensive rating. They've been complete turnstiles.
This isn't an isolated sample size, either. Sure, it's been worse lately, but among all the Bulls who have played at least 44 games this year, only Ayo Dosunmu and Nikola Vucevic have worse defensive ratings, and only Dosunmu has a worse plus-minus than White. Only Patrick Williams stands between White and Giddey.
(It's not great news either that Dosunmu is as bad, if not worse than his teammates in those categories.)
Giddey is in line for an extension this summer, and this Bulls front office doesn't have a great track record of self-control when it comes to handing out undeserved contracts. See: Williams, Patrick.
White's deal runs out after next season. So does Dosunmu's.
The hope was that Giddey would improve with a fresh start, new team and new system and that White could take another jump in terms of his scoring ability and efficiency. None of that has happened, which raises significant questions about what was supposed to be the franchise's backcourt of the future.