Though the big three of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren may attract the lion's share of attention, every rotation player on this OKC Thunder squad has served a significant role in 2024-25.
For Aaron Wiggins, it's secondary scoring. For Isaiah Hartenstein, it's rebounding and facilitation.
And, for Alex Caruso, it appears that one of his primary objectives during his debut season with Oklahoma City has been providing a "different level of leadership."
At least, that's what Kenrich Williams seems to believe.
Kenrich Williams hypes Alex Caruso's leadership in debut Thunder season
During Thursday's shootaround media session, the veteran forward talked up his fellow elder statesman on this predominantly sub-26-year-old roster, specifically highlighting his approach to providing guidance and direction to the team as being something that the Thunder didn't have in their wheelhouse last season.
"He's super vocal. He's more vocal than I am. Every timeout he's always speaking to the team, every practice we get, even in the film room, he's always speaking up. He has years of experience, he's won a championship... He's been super helpful for our team." Williams said of Caruso.
Last offseason, the title-hungry Thunder opted to cough up their former lottery-selected point guard Josh Giddey to the Bulls in exchange for the win-now talents of Caruso.
Though the counting stats may suggest Chicago ultimately came away from the trade with the better player, as Giddey is having perhaps the best season of his career out in the Windy City and is directly responsible for them being in the running for a playoff berth, as Kenny Hustle alluded to, the 31-year-old's impact on OKC has been tremendous, and the advanced metrics only strengthen this stance.
Through 47 games played, Caruso finds himself posting seemingly pedestrian averages of 6.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.6 assists on 35.6 percent shooting from the floor per night.
However, when digging a bit deeper, the eye test of him being a crucial difference-maker is convincingly backed up by the advanced statistics, as he ranks second on the team in defensive rating (101.9), fourth in net rating (15.0), fourth in blocks percentage (20.8), and first in steals percentage (33.9) out of those who have played in 40 or more games this year.
Alex Caruso has seemingly proved himself throughout his mere five months donning the Thunder blue threads that one can have an effect on the team beyond just what the box score shows.
From his highly vocal leadership style to his championship experience, as Williams noted in his media session, the veteran has "mesmerized" OKC with his presence both on and off the court.
Hopefully his effect on the team can flow right on through into the playoffs.