The Thunder have positioned themselves to have great success this year. They have a 38-9 record and a six-game lead for first place in the Western Conference. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has taken his game to new heights and is the front-runner for MVP. Jalen Williams will be making his first All-Star appearance this year. In addition, they have done all of this with their defensive anchor, Chet Holmgren, who only played 10 games this year. Everything has seemingly clicked for the Thunder all year. However, one rough patch has been Alex Caruso’s first year with the Thunder. If things don’t change, the Thunder may regret the extension they gave Caruso.
Alex Caruso, on the year, is averaging 5.5 points per game, which would be his lowest mark since his rookie season. This isn’t too bad because he wasn’t brought in to necessarily be a scorer, it was for his defensive upside. However, the concerning part is his shooting percentages, as he is just shooting 38.3% from the field and 29.2% from three. These would all be career lows for him. In addition, he has been in and out of lineups due to multiple injuries, only playing in 28 of the possible 47 games. Let’s dive into why the Thunder may start to regret the extension to Caruso if nothing changes.
Why the Thunder May Regret the Extension to Alex Caruso
His Offensive Performance Might Hurt Them in The Playoffs
As stated above, Caruso has struggled all year with his offense, with him on pace to average career lows. However, recently, he has improved his efficiency a little, but nowhere near to what he was shooting last year on the Bulls. Furthermore, this has always been something Caruso has faced in his career, which is inconsistency shooting the ball. One year, he may shoot 40% from three, and the next, go down to 33% as he did from the 2020 season to the 2021 season. This hasn’t hurt the Thunder too much in the regular season, but it may come to hurt them in the playoffs.
In the playoffs, teams are game-planning more against you to try and find your strengths and weaknesses to exploit them. This happened to the Thunder last year when they had Josh Giddey. Teams would sag off of him in the playoffs, put their worst defender on him, and dare him to shoot. Eventually, he became unplayable in the series against the Mavericks. This could happen again with Caruso if he doesn’t show more consistency as an outside shooter. However, he will be able to play more because of the important defense he brings to the table. Nonetheless, the Thunder may not be able to utilize him as much as they had hoped for because of his offensive struggles.
Caruso Has Had an Injury History
In addition to his offensive struggles, Caruso has had a history of injuries. In his eight-year career, he has only played over 70 games once and over 60 games three times. His injury problem has been the case this year as well. Now, Caruso is 30, and his injury history could get worse as he ages. With Caruso making $20 million a year for the next four seasons, you can’t have him be in and out of the lineup all the time, especially with his inconsistent offense.
His Extension May Not Let the Thunder Keep Important Players
The Thunder giving Caruso $20 million per year makes it more of a challenge for them to keep other free agents, especially under the new CBA rules. Shai will be due for a supermax extension this offseason that will kick in for the 2027-2028 season. In addition, Chet and Jalen will be up for rookie max extensions that will start in the 2026-2027 season. This means that the Thunder will have three players making north of $30 million. Then you add Caruso’s $20 million per year salary; the Thunder won’t have any money left for other important free agents under the new CBA rules.
Important players like Cason Wallace, Lu Dort, and Isaiah Hartenstein could be let go when their contracts are up. You can argue that Wallace, Dort, and Hartenstein are more valuable to their success than Caruso is. In addition, Wallace and Dort bring the same impact on defense that Caruso does while having more upside on offense.
The Last Word on Caruso’s Thunder Extension
The Thunder extending Caruso was a good move for them. However, at the price tag he is at, if things don’t improve on offense and he continues to have injury problems, the contract won’t look so great, and the Thunder may regret that decision. The good news is if the Thunder do lose important free agents with their inability to re-sign them, they do have a treasure chest of draft picks to replace them. However, only time will tell if extending Caruso to the $20 million per year was the right move or not for the Thunder.
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