For years, this OKC Thunder team has been regularly overlooked as a legitimate title contender due to their lack of experience and overall youthfulness as a collective.
However, in an ironic turn of events, under the bright lights of the 2025 NBA Finals, it's the ball club's elder statesman who's now seemingly catching strays for being on the opposite side of the spectrum.
After Sunday's series-evening Game 2 win against the Indiana Pacers, Chet Holmgren was asked by a reporter to describe his thoughts on veteran Alex Caruso's energy levels "for a 30-year-old man."
Taken as playful and unserious age discrimination, following a chuckle and accompanied by a cheek-to-cheek smile, the budding stud big man stood up for his seasoned running mate by boldly saying, "Don't disrespect our GOAT like that, man."
Alex Caruso providing undeniable energy for Thunder in NBA Finals
Throughout the entirety of his debut season with the Thunder, Caruso has established himself as a true energizer bunny for the team, as he's been an elite difference-maker on both ends of the floor and posted the highest box plus-minus of his career at +4.0, per Basketball Reference, along the way.
However, Game 2 may have officially been the defining moment of the eighth-year pro's OKC tenure to this point, as he wrapped with a whopping 20 points on 54.5 percent shooting from the floor and 50.0 percent shooting from deep off the pine while regularly finding himself matched up against much bigger assignments like Pascal Siakam and Obi Toppin on the defensive end.
To Holmgren, these types of efforts are nothing new for the likes of Caruso, as he's the type of player "who you know is gonna bring it every single night."
"Whether he's 22 or 30, it doesn't matter. He's going to bring it and I feel like as a collective we really feed off of that," Holmgren said.
Alex Caruso has been an undeniable force for Oklahoma City throughout this magical season and during their playoff run.
Through 18 games played this postseason, the veteran ranks fifth on the Thunder in plus-minus (+6.9), fourth in offensive rating (117.0), and fourth in net rating (15.9) while his Game 2 performance saw him become just the sixth undrafted player in the last decade to score 20 or more points in a Finals game.
Yet, despite all this success from both Caruso and OKC as a whole, as a former champion himself, he understands that there's still plenty more work that needs to be done before they can feel completely satisfied, as he stated after Sunday's win that while making it to the championship round may be an accomplishment, "winning it is the real pinnacle”
With his combination of wisdom, experience, and clearly surprising levels of energy on the court, it goes without saying that this title-hungry Thunder squad is lucky to have AC on their side.