Alex Caruso already had an NBA Championship ring when the Oklahoma City Thunder traded for him last summer. What he did have, however, were teammates who matched his level of play on the defensive end. With the Thunder, the Bald Mamba finally had what he had always longed for: help.
Caruso has never been anyone's idea of an offensive hub. He has grown significantly as a shooter and scorer over the course of his career, but ever since he went undrafted in the 2017 NBA Draft he has been understood to be a supporting actor on offense. His career high in points per game is just 10.1; an on-ball star he is not.
Yet what happens with such players is that they are often marginalized as a team builds out their roster. You sort players into roles on offense, but on defense it's more "he's good so he'll defend guys." Teams build defensive lineups that cover up weaknesses. Precious few teams have understood how to put defensive superstars together in such a way as to exponentially multiply the impact each has.
Karl Malone was always going to be great; pair him with a player in John Stockton who can set him up as a passer and he becomes an MVP. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were such offensive forces early in their careers that defenses couldn't just take one away and ignore the other; it made the offense so dangerous when you stacked multiple offensive stars together.
You can do the same thing on defense, and unlike on offense where there is only one ball, on defense the ceiling is taken off. If you build a team with the five best defenders in the league they increasingly make one another better until you have a team capable to ripping out the heart of any team they face.
Alex Caruso wanted help - and the Thunder gave it to him
When Alex Caruso first joined the Oklahoma City Thunder, he spoke to that upside in his introductory press conference. When asked about his fit with players like Chet Holmgren and Lu Dort, he waxed eloquent about something he had always wanted: to be on a team where he was not the only All-Defense caliber player.
In Chicago, he explained, he was the No. 1 focus of opposing teams on defense. Sort of like how NFL teams scheme up ways to slow down a star pass rusher on the other team, or throw away from an elite cornerback, offenses could come up with ways to still attach the Bulls' defense and not allow Caruso to make an impact.
On the Thunder, Caruso said that teams have to worry about Dort and Holmgren, freeing him up to wreak havoc. Or, if teams locked in on him, now there were elite defensive teammates with an advantage.
Alex Caruso proved to be a prophet. The Thunder put together truly terrifying defensive lineups, and they demolished the league. OKC not only led the league in defensive rating, but No. 2 Orlando was closer to No. 8 than to the Thunder at No. 1. Countless historical markers have the Thunder as the best defense relative to the rest of the league in NBA history, or certainly in the modern era.
Lu Dort got the All-Defense nod almost on behalf of the ensemble cast around him who were not eligible for the award due to not playing enough games. Yet on the list of the best defenders in the league last season the Thunder could place five or six players: Dort, Cason Wallace and Caruso on the wing, Jalen Williams at forward, and Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein in the middle. Other teams had no chance, and the Thunder won the championship as a result.
Caruso has been locked up on a long-term extension, and both Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren signed max rookie extensions to remain in Oklahoma City long-term. Caruso wanted elite defensive teammates; he not only got them, but he gets to keep them.
Few teams could ever have granted Caruso's wish so excellently. The Carushow will continue as the Thunder prepare to defend their title in merciless fashion.