Subscribe
Follow Us
The Oklahoma City Thunder have made it all the way to the 2025 NBA Finals, and the one thing that people were worried about was their inexperience. Though they're one of the youngest teams in the league, they've shown all season that they have the talent to compete with anybody they find themselves matched up against.
One player that helped them to get to the next level this season was Alex Caruso, whom they traded for last offseason. Caruso has championship experience after winning the Finals with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, so he knows what it takes. He has helped the Thunder navigate this season, and Jalen Williams recently spoke highly of him.
“We didn't really have this hump he needed to get over,” Williams said via Tim McMahon of ESPN. “We were ready to listen to him. We understand why Sam brought him in.
“He's somebody that we trust. We call him ‘old head' and stuff, but his experience from being in the G to now, we really hold that dear. Our team is really receptive to him and what he has to say. He always says the right thing, which makes us even more inclined to listen to him. Obviously, he does the right stuff on the court, too.”
Not only has Caruso been a veteran off the floor, but he's been one of the most disruptive players on defense for the Thunder.
Alex Caruso proving to be key factor for Thunder
Caruso was one of the biggest pickups for the Thunder last offseason, and it has paid off for them given what he's been able to do on defense. Throughout the playoffs, Caruso has guarded some of the best players OKC has gone up against, regardless of what position they play. Case in point, when they faced off against the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals, Caruso would put his body on the line to go up against Nikola Jokic.
OKC have featured one of the best defenses in the league all season long, and outside of Caruso, it's been a collective group effort for them to buy in on that side of the ball. In Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers, they forced 19 turnovers in the first half, which shows their commitment to causing havoc on defense.
Though they forced that many turnovers, they were not able to score many points off of those opportunities, which was a big reason why they lost the game.
