One of the most emotional moments in professional basketball is when you win your first NBA championship. For former Texas A&M guard Alex Caruso, he won his first NBA championship in the bubble back in 2020 with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Now, he's made himself a household name with the Oklahoma City Thunder as being one of the older guys. Caruso has created a new personality in the NBA by becoming a scrappy player to create havoc on defense. He proved that with his defense against Nikola Jokic in the playoffs.
Now, he gets to celebrate with the youngest teams to ever win an NBA Finals trophy. Caruso provided the exact experience that OKC needed to get to the promise land for the first time ever.
Caruso's hustle and experience were last piece to OKC championship puzzle
Jalen Williams became an All Star for the first time in his career, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexender became an MVP player, and while that was a signal of OKC trending in the right direction, Caruso was the perfect signing that OKC needed. This young, vibrant team needed an experienced champion to help bring a championship to Oklahoma City for the first team, and Caruso did exactly just that.
Caruso averaged 9.2 points in the playoffs, but that's all he needed to do. He just needed to be the defensive scrapper to complete the championship puzzle. He went from an undrafted player to the player that everybody wants on their team. Oklahoma City made the right choice when they traded Josh Giddey for Caruso.
From undrafted to irreplaceable 👍
2020 NBA Champion
2023 All-Defensive First-Team
2024 All-Defensive Second-Team
2024 NBA Hustle Award Winner
2025 NBA Champion
Alex Caruso is one of just three NBA players to win multiple rings over the last 6 years 💍 pic.twitter.com/FlWWl9XMLa
— Luke Evangelist (@lukeevangelist_) June 23, 2025
His Laker championship in 2020 meant something, but going full circle with Mark Daigneault from the G League to the NBA is a script that you can't make up. This is no doubt a time that the Sooner State will remember forever. They're a new city of champions, and they have the former Aggie, Alex Caruso to thank for that.