Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey admitted in his introductory press conference that he wasn't "eager" to come off the bench in Oklahoma City, revealing conversations he had with Thunder general manager Sam Presti before he was dealt to the Windy City for Alex Caruso last Thursday.

"I just said to him at this point in my career, I'm 21 years old, it wasn't something that I was overly eager to do," Giddey told reporters, per ESPN's Jamal Collier.

"And he completely understood, and throughout the whole process we were open and honest with each other...He got it. We worked together through the whole process, and he got me to a great spot."

Giddey started all 80 of his regular-season games for the Thunder last year, averaging 12.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists.

However, he averaged just 12.6 minutes per game during the Thunder's second-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks and eventually fell out of the starting lineup for Games 5 and 6 before OKC lost the matchup, 4-2.

In Chicago, Giddey has a clear role in the starting backcourt alongside Coby White.

In OKC, it was clear that the team wanted him to come off the bench in 2024-25. In a statement, Presti said that OKC thought a reserve role would allow Giddey "to maximize his many talents and deploy our team more efficiently over 48 minutes."

"As we laid out to Josh how he could lean into his strengths and ultimately optimize our current roster and talent, it was hard to for him to envision, and conversations turned to him inquiring about potential opportunities elsewhere," Presti said, per the Associated Press.

"As always was the case, Josh demonstrated the utmost professionalism throughout the discussions."

The Thunder also have a loaded team with multiple ball-handlers, so Giddey didn't feel as though he would hit his ceiling in town anymore.

"It was going to be hard to tap into my full potential, in my opinion, on a team like [Oklahoma City] with so many talented guys who needed the ball in their hands, who were great with the ball in their hands. A change of scenery was going to maybe unlock more of that for me.

"Being able to make the game easy for everybody, being able to get guys involved, distribute the ball and get other players confident around me is the thing I pride myself on doing. And it's hard to do that in a role when the ball isn't in your hands a lot. ... That's probably the big thing coming in here. I want to be the pass-first point guard I am."

So this seems like a win-win for both sides.

Giddey gets a fresh start in Chicago, where he'll have a better opportunity for playing time and being a featured part of the offense as the starting point guard.

And Oklahoma City gets a multi-talented veteran guard in Caruso who should fill a variety of roles and perhaps be the missing piece this team needs to propel itself to a Western Conference title.