Alex Caruso more than willing to sign extension with OKC Thunder: ‘Would be awesome’

Saturday marks the six-month anniversary of the trade that sent guard Alex Caruso from the Chicago Bulls to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Hence, he is now eligible to sign a contract extension with the team.

So far in his first season in Oklahoma City, he’s averaging 5.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.9 steals per game for a Thunder squad with the second-best record in the NBA at this juncture at 22-5. Caruso told Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer that he’s all for inking a four-year contract extension that would keep him under contract with Oklahoma City for the long haul.

“He simply insists now, in true Thunder fashion, that he has nothing on his mind other than helping Oklahoma City compete for this season’s crown and championships beyond,” Fischer wrote. “Yet he did allow that locking in a four-year future with this group ‘would be awesome.'”

Caruso is one of the more disruptive defensive players at his position in the league and has been for quite some time. Perhaps his defining quality on the less glamorous end of the floor is his knack for mucking up possessions with his quick hands.

The 30-year-old has averaged 1.3 steals per game for his career, and he’s averaging a whopping 3.4 takeaways per 36 minutes in the 2024-25 regular season to this point. Caruso is also racking up 3.7 deflections per contest with his new team, a mark that’s the most of any player in the league.

However, for as great as he’s been defensively for the Thunder, he hasn’t gotten off to an ideal start to his stint with the team on the offensive end. Caruso hasn’t shot the ball with great efficiency, considering just 38.5 percent of his shots from the field and 27.0 percent of his 3-point attempts have found nylon.

On top of the fact that his current field-goal and 3-point percentages are both career lows, he’s reached double digits in scoring only several times since the start of the campaign. He’s scored 10-plus points in five of the 19 games he’s played in.

Maybe Caruso can get back on track from an offensive standpoint when the Thunder take on the Washington Wizards on Dec. 23.

After all, Washington’s record of 4-21 is the worst in the league, and the team has lost all but two of its last 10 contests. Furthermore, the Wizards don’t stand out as a great defensive squad, as Washington ranks 29th in defensive rating.