The Oklahoma City Thunder are officially headed to their first Western Conference Finals since 2016. Thunder fans were wildly impressed with Alex Caruso's terrific defensive showing in Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, and the fanbase largely has the Los Angeles Lakers to thank for the joy they're getting from watching Caruso.
We're all aware of the fact that Alex Caruso technically began his NBA career with the Oklahoma City Thunder organization back in 2016 when he played with the Oklahoma City Blue of the G League (then D-League). But of course after that, he became known as a terrific individual and team defender during his time with the Lakers, with whom he won his first NBA championship in 2020.
That 2020 Lakers team was one of the best defensive teams of this generation. But one year after winning the title, during the 2021 offseason, the Lakers made a near-inexplicable decision not to re-sign Caruso, and I would argue that decision is still affecting them today.
The Lakers not re-signing Caruso eventually led him to OKC
At the time, the league-wide view of Caruso was not quite what it is today. According to a report from The Athletic, the Lakers actually offered Caruso less than 15 million dollars over two years back in 2021, which is near unthinkable today. As a result, Caruso obviously opted to sign with the Chicago Bulls in free agency instead, who paid him $37 million over four years.
While in Chicago, Caruso's reputation as a lockdown defender and as an overall winning player only increased. His trade value steadily increased as well, and he soon became one of the most desirable trade targets across the association.
By the time we got to last offseason, practically every NBA contender was knocking down the Bulls' door to try to trade for Caruso. But as we know, the Oklahoma City Thunder made the winning bid. They executed a one-for-one swap that sent Josh Giddey to Chicago and brought Caruso to Oklahoma.
Obviously, we see the results of that trade in Caruso's contributions to the Thunder's winning brand of basketball now. He played a big role in severely limiting Nikola Jokic in Game 7 on Sunday. Now, as Thunder fans sit back and wait for the Western Conference Finals, they can thank the Lakers for setting them up to gain one of their most valuable contributors in 2025.