Bulls Guard Leads Australia to Win Over Spain

The Oklahoma City Thunder decided to move on from Josh Giddey. Maybe they should have watched him play in the Olympics.

In Australia’s 92-80 victory over Spain, Giddey scored 17 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and dished out eight assists. He worked well with Jock Landale, who scored 20 points, many of which came from Giddey’s pick-and-roll plays. Giddey shot an impressive 7-for-12 overall and made 2-of-4 three-pointers.

Giddey’s Journey:

When OKC picked Giddey as the No. 6 pick in the 2021 draft, this is exactly the kind of performance they hoped for. However, his inconsistent shooting led to him losing his starting position and eventually being traded to the Chicago Bulls for Alex Caruso.

Bulls fans must be thrilled seeing how well Giddey managed the offense and shot during Saturday’s game. But he isn’t alone in having something to prove. Dyson Daniels, another young player at just 21 years old, was picked No. 8 in the 2022 NBA draft by New Orleans Pelicans but got traded to Atlanta Hawks as part of the Dejounte Murray deal.

Daniels scored 13 points and collected seven rebounds against Spain while hitting three out of four shots from beyond the arc . If he continues shooting like this alongside his strong defense skills, Hawks might have struck gold with him.

Fans might think both Daniels and Giddey are extra motivated to show their new teams what they’ve got or perhaps make their old teams regret trading them away. In that case, free agent Patty Mills (19 points) has even more fire driving him.

Or maybe Mills just always steps up when playing for Team Australia—same goes for both Giddey and Daniels so far.

What do you think about these trades? Do you believe they’ll shine with their new teams?