{"id":113573,"date":"2024-12-22T18:47:56","date_gmt":"2024-12-22T23:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=113573"},"modified":"2024-12-22T20:05:10","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T01:05:10","slug":"thunder-alex-caruso-contract-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/22\/thunder-alex-caruso-contract-extension\/","title":{"rendered":"Defensive Menace Inks Multi-Year Extension With Thunder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The timing couldn\u2019t be any better. Just a day after The Stein Line insider Jake Fischer asked him about <a href=\"https:\/\/open.substack.com\/pub\/marcstein\/p\/alex-caruso-tells-jake-fischer-signing?\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the possibility of remaining<\/a> with the Oklahoma City Thunder long-terms, ESPN senior insider Shams Charania has reported that the two-time All-Defensive selection <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/carusal01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Caruso<\/a> has agreed to a four-year, $81 million contract extension with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gilgesh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a>-led squad.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Caruso is among NBA\u2019s elite perimeter defenders, ranking in top five in deflections, field-goal % allowed as contesting defender and points per direct pick allowed as ball-handler defender, per ESPN Research.<\/p>\n<p>Deal keeps Caruso out of free agency, under contract through 2028-29. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ve6bCa5ZOs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/Ve6bCa5ZOs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1870970885403799724?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 22, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Acquired by the Thunder this offseason, Caruso has averaged a career-high 1.9 steals per game this season. The eight-year veteran hasn\u2019t been himself from beyond the arc, shooting a career-low 27.0 percent from three-point range. However, he\u2019s shooting 37.5 percent from deep in December, so it\u2019s possible that he\u2019s rounding the corner.<\/p>\n<h2>Defensive Menace Alex Caruso Inks Multi-Year Extension With Thunder<\/h2>\n<p>Caruso\u2019s age is worth noting considering the length of the deal. He\u2019ll be 35 years old when his contract expires and many players tend to decline in their later years. Nonetheless, Caruso\u2019s IQ, technique and physical tools allow there to be cautious optimism there isn\u2019t much concern in the immediate future.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">First time we get to see Alex Caruso&#8217;s defense on OKC! One of the best in the league. Here are some clips from their recent preseason game: On Ball, Gap Steal, Gap Block attempt, Wall Ups, Swipe Steal, and Ball Screen Navigation.<\/p>\n<p>Every young player should be taking notes <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/R6QQVT3sXk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/R6QQVT3sXk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Michael Jagacki (@Mike_Jagacki) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Mike_Jagacki\/status\/1844079834353500614?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 9, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>There are more plus-defenders in the NBA than has been suggested. That being said, Caruso is still among the best players in the league at that end. With the league\u2019s top teams possessing a lot of talent on the perimeter in this era, it simply makes sense to keep an exceptional defender like him in town.<\/p>\n<p>Caruso\u2019s intangibles are also another factor. The Thunder are a young and, though seemingly an up and coming powerhouse, lack the experience of other championship-contenders. In the playoffs, that tends to matter, whether it comes down to preparation or emotions. As that relates to Caruso, he\u2019s not just the oldest and most experienced player on the team, he\u2019s the only one with an NBA ring.<\/p>\n<p>His leadership is invaluable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The timing couldn\u2019t be any better. Just a day after The Stein Line insider Jake Fischer asked him about the possibility of remaining with the Oklahoma City Thunder long-terms, ESPN senior insider Shams Charania has reported that the two-time All-Defensive selection Alex Caruso has agreed to a four-year, $81 million contract extension with the Shai [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":113578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,1608,62,3],"tags":[2037,297],"class_list":["post-113573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thunder","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-alex-caruso","tag-nba-free-agency"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113573"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113594,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113573\/revisions\/113594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}