Alex Caruso
Acquired in the late-June exchange that sent Josh Giddey to the Chicago Bulls, there is a bevy of reasons to like the addition of Alex Caruso to this title-hungry Thunder team.
Recognized by many across the association as one of the game's best role players, the veteran boasts an impressive resume that includes two All-Defensive team selections and Championship experience (won with the Lakers in 2020).
Coming off easily his best season as a pro, Caruso is heading into his debut season in Oklahoma City with recent per-game averages of 10.1 points, 3.5 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.7 steals while shooting 46.8 percent from the floor.
For a player of his ilk, it's quite hard to single out just one attribute that should get fans excited for his arrival, but, for the sake of this exercise, we've zeroed in on a particular skill.
Key skill: Three-point shooting
Often associated with his 3-and-D play style, today we're going to be focusing on the latter part of this combo, for that is the one the Thunder will benefit the most from.
ALEX CARUSO FOR THE LEAD IN OT.@NBCSChicago | @ACFresh21 pic.twitter.com/UFugs7u70C
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) October 28, 2023
Last season, OKC may have finished with the best three-point shooting clip as an entire unit at 38.9 percent, but they hoisted up just a middling 34.2 shots from beyond the arc per contest (ranked 16 in the league).
What this means is that while they may have knocked down three-pointers at a highly efficient rate, from the advanced metrics and eye-test the majority of these buckets came on clean looks rather than as a result from having an abundance of lethal long-range snipers at their disposal (just look at their playoff series against Dallas as an example of this).
Caruso is one of the game's best shooters from deep, as he has cashed in on such attempts at a 38.0 percent rate for his entire career and is coming off a 2023-24 season where he shot 40.8 percent on 4.7 attempts per game.
While it goes without saying that his defensive efforts will be of great benefit to OKC during this upcoming campaign, considering they just finished as the fourth-best defensive club in the entire league a year ago, his shooting stroke is likely what the team is looking forward to seeing added the most.