The Thunder veteran earned a goaltending and a technical foul assessment from the officials after committing the bizarre defensive stop against Tristan da Silva.
Oklahoma City Thunder veteran Alex Caruso raised the eyebrows of many on Tuesday in what has been a bizarre defensive play using his sneaker.
Losing his left shoe and holding it with his right hand, Caruso suddenly swatted away Tristan da Silva's layup during the 4:06 mark in the second quarter of OKC's 113-108 win over the Orlando Magic.
Apparently, he was called for a goaltending and a subsequent technical foul from the weird play he committed using his shoe.
Reflecting on what happened, Caruso admitted that he wished he hadn't used his shoe against Da Silva.
"I've never been in that situation before. And, I don't know, it came to me. I just thought I was gonna block it, and I honestly don't know what I thought the call would be. I didn't know it was going to be a goaltending and a tech. If I would've known that, I probably wouldn't have done it because it's three points. It's an automatic bucket, and he didn't even put the ball above the rim," Caruso told reporters after the game, via Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman.
"As soon as I had my shoe in my hand, it crept into my mind to use it. Not like in a malicious way, but like 'Let me try to make a play to stop the ball.' It's just one of those weird NBA plays that probably won't happen for like another 10 years."