After going undrafted out of Texas A&M in 2016, Alex Caruso spent the early part of his pro career doing everything he could to carve out a role for himself in the NBA.
Eventually, he became one of the league’s most tenacious defenders. Now a two-time NBA All-Defensive Team honoree, Caruso has proven he’ll do whatever it takes on that end of the floor.
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The 32-year-old wing took that sentence to another level on Tuesday, and it humorously cost him.
When Caruso’s left sneaker came off in the second quarter of a 113-108 road win over the Orlando Magic, he picked it up and got creative on defense.
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Playing help defense in the paint, Caruso swiped his lost shoe at the left hand of Magic forward Tristan da Silva, who was going up for a layup.
Caruso made contact with the ball, and it came loose, ricocheting off da Silva’s arm and flying out of bounds.
Except, rather than resulting in an Orlando turnover, the play wound up with Caruso receiving a technical foul and the Magic being awarded the two points da Silva could have scored otherwise, plus the subsequent free throw due to Caruso being T’d up.
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That sequence assisted Orlando’s comeback effort. The Magic drew within one point of the Thunder by halftime. Then they pulled in front early in the third quarter.
But the Thunder stormed back and secured their spot in this year’s playoffs. Oklahoma City is the first team during the 2025-26 campaign to punch its ticket to the postseason.
Mark Daigneault’s team has won nine games in a row and is now 54-15. The Thunder are gunning for their second straight NBA title.
Reigning league MVP Shai Gilgeous Alexander paced the Thunder with 40 points on Tuesday. As for Caruso, he finished with just two points but also eight rebounds and two steals — and one innovative technical foul that raised eyebrows in Orlando and everywhere online.