March 18, 2026, 11:01 a.m. CT
Playing wolf after being knocked off course, Alex Caruso punched the ball out of Paolo Banchero’s possession. The 32-year-old recorded the high-leverage steal as he was rewarded with an easy transition layup. The steal-and-score sequence forced a timeout.
The Oklahoma City Thunder survived another thriller in a 113-108 win over the Orlando Magic. They’ve won nine in a row as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dropped 40 points to cosplay as Superman.
Caruso finished with two points on 1-of-3 shooting, eight rebounds and one assist. He shot 0-of-1 from 3. He also had two steals.
Not the prettiest box score, but a plus-19 in 24 minutes is all you need to see. Caruso was everywhere on the floor — in a good way. With the playoffs around the corner, he’s started to ramp up and string together some of his best games. Playing a bunch of close games recently has only helped him get the blood flowing.
You may say Caruso might’ve been too amped up. In a possession that went viral, Caruso blew a tire. He had a shoe in his hand. Deciding on the fly, he swatted the ball away from Tristan da Silva’s drive attempt. While the shoe-on-ball stop was funny and made the rounds on social media, the Magic role player received the bucket and the two-time NBA champion was handed a comedic technical foul.
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Afterward, Caruso explained his spontaneous decision to weaponize his loose shoe. He told The Oklahoman’s Justin Martinez that he tried to be cheeky with the situation. Little did he know, though, that it would be quite the costly experiment as Orlando tallied three points off it.
“I’ve never been in that situation before. I don’t know, it came to me. I just thought I was gonna block it. 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,” Caruso said. “If I had 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. 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.”
Guess we all learn something new — even if you’ve been in the league for a while. Funny moment aside, Caruso helped the Thunder get another close win. When push comes to shove, they’ve had the bench player be part of most of OKC’s closing lineup. This was the latest example. Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault has had full trust in him since he arrived.
“Caruso is the other one who did nothing on the box score. Now, you wouldn’t even have thought he played if you looked for the box score, but he was all over the place,” Daigneault said about Caruso. “He was the primary matchup on Banchero late, and did the job on him, made everything difficult. Banchero still got some stuff, but Alex really executed and he was a playmaker.”