12 hours Ago By Julia Poe
Alex Caruso cashed in this week on a trade that has aged more poorly with each passing month for the Chicago Bulls. Six months after the Bulls traded their best defensive player — and arguably one of the best defensive players in the NBA — to Oklahoma City in a rare one-to-one trade for point guard Josh Giddey, the Thunder made a long-term commitment. Caruso signed a four-year, $81 million extension that solidly etched him into the competitive future the Thunder are building around their young core of Chet Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Formerly undrafted, Caruso started his career with the Thunder organization playing for the Oklahoma City Blue in the G League. He carved out a place in the league as a defensive specialist, winning an NBA title with the Lakers in 2020 before signing with the Bulls as a free agent in 2021. The Bulls always valued Caruso internally as one of the most important players on their roster, single-handedly elevating the Chicago defense and galvanizing the culture within the locker room.
But that didn’t materialize in a substantial payout when the front office parted with the guard this summer. This latest extension is another reminder of how highly the Thunder valued Caruso — and throws into contrast how lightly the Bulls let him go this summer. Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso and Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vučević say hello after a Thunder victory over the Bulls at the United Center on Oct.
26, 2024. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune) New Chicago Sky head coach Tyler Marsh made the first hire of his coaching staff last week, adding Oklahoma legend Courtney Paris to his bench. Paris was a frontcourt force for Oklahoma from 2005 to 2009, where she played alongside twin sister Ashley, and became the first player in men’s or women’s basketball to reach 2,500 points and 2,000 rebounds in their NCAA career.
She was selected at No. 7 by the Sacramento Monarchs in the 2009 WNBA draft and became a WNBA champion (2018) and two-time rebounding leader during her 11-year career in the league. After retiring in 2019, Paris shifted to coaching — first at her alma mater, then with the Dallas Wings for the past two seasons.
Marsh said Paris made a strong impression as an assistant coach due to her work with the Dallas bigs, a key focus for the Sky as they work to develop frontcourt stars Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese. The Sky are retaining a few members of the coaching staff, including David Simon and Can Ozbalkan. Notably, Sydney Johnson — who worked as an assistant in Chicago under Teresa Weatherspoon last season — was hired by the Washington Mystics as their new head coach.
Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan walks on the court during the second period against the Milwaukee Bucks at the United Center on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (Armando L.
Sanchez/Chicago Tribune) Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan officially qualified for the Naismith Hall of Fame ballot in this year’s voting process, joining a group of first-time ballot nominees that included Carmelo Anthony, Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles, Marc Gasol, Dwight Howard, Maya Moore, and Amar’e Stoudemire. Donovan has been successful in the NBA, posting a career 399-319 record over nine seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Chicago Bulls. But his eligibility for the Hall of Fame is predicated upon his success as a college coach with Florida, where he became one of only three coaches to ever win back-to-back NCAA men’s basketball championships.
Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault — who was an assistant under Donovan for the Gators and the Thunder — advocated for his mentor to join the ranks of the Hall of Fame. “If you look at his coaching record, I think it’s pretty clear that he should be in there,” Daigneault said. “Especially with his run in Florida — the national championships, the sustained winning over a long period of time — I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets in very shortly.
” LSU’s Aneesah Morrow battles UIC’s Keimari Rimmer for a rebound during the first half on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty) Former Simeon star Aneesah Morrow played her first game in Chicago since transferring from DePaul to Louisiana State in 2023, leading the Tigers to a dominant 91-73 win over the University of Illinois Chicago last Thursday.
Morrow said at least 40 friends and family members came out to the game to support her and the crowd of 4,322 in attendance was the largest in UIC women’s basketball history. The emotions were visibly high for Morrow — coach Kim Mulkey noted the senior took (and missed) more shots along the perimeter than in any typical game for the Tigers. While teammate Flau’jae Johnson led scoring, Morrow anchored the Tigers with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
The Illinois men’s basketball team couldn’t quite accomplish an upset of No. 1 Tennessee, falling one basket — and two points — short of the feat last week. But that didn’t keep the Fighting Illini from bouncing back to No.
24 in the country after two weeks out of the AP Top 25. A pair of wins over No. 10 Wisconsin and unranked Missouri sandwiching that close result was enough to merit another look from the voters as Illinois levels out an inconsistent start to the season.
This will likely be the roller coaster that Illinois will ride through the majority of this season, but a ranked matchup to start conference play — No. 9 Oregon on Jan. 2 — would provide the perfect upset opportunity for the team to get a stronger foothold in both the conference standings and the national rankings.
The Bulls and the Boston Celtics put up a record number of missed attempts from behind the 3-point arc in their game Thursday: 75 missed shots from deep. This is the second time this season that the Bulls have participated in a game that broke the record for most misses from 3-point range in NBA history — both of which took place this December. This trend will only continue as the year rolls on and the Bulls remain committed to their new high-volume style .
Thursday: at Hawks, 6:30 p.m. (CHSN) Saturday: vs.
Bucks, 7 p.m. (CHSN) Monday: at Hornets, 6 p.
m. (CHSN) Column: Chicago Bulls are still looking for an identity while former Bull Alex Caruso gets rewarded for his Stars and Sky push for equality in public stadium funding for men’s and women’s sports in Illinois Column: Will the Chicago Bulls tank or go for it? The next month of play should provide the answer. Column: Northwestern crushes DePaul 84-64 in a tale of two programs that have switched identities Matas Buzelis set a high bar for his 1st Chicago Bulls season: Win as many games as possible.
Then win Rookie of the Year. Comcast raising monthly sports fee for subscribers while Bulls, Blackhawks and Chicago Sports Network still blacked out Soccer star Trinity Rodman explains estranged relationship with her father, Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman: ‘He’s not a dad’ “We’re building something. People just gotta watch.
” — Matas Buzelis on his future with the Chicago Bulls.
