Alex Caruso isn't the Caped Crusader — but he's playing like Batman as Oklahoma City Thunder chase NBA title

Time of India

14 hours ago

Alex Caruso never asked for the spotlight — but during the 2025 NBA Finals, it found him anyway. On Friday night, June 13, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the 31-year-old guard delivered another pivotal performance for the Oklahoma City Thunder, tallying 20 points and five steals off the bench in a season-defining Game 4 win over the Indiana Pacers.
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For a player who was undrafted and once overlooked, this postseason surge has fans dubbing him OKC's unlikely superhero. Just don't expect him to call himself Batman.
Alex Caruso makes history in Game 4 as Oklahoma City Thunder keep NBA Finals hopes alive
When asked after Game 4 if he was aware of the superhero status fans have given him,
smiled and brushed it off with trademark humility.
'For the superhero reference, we'll just do Robin,' he said. 'That's the only one I can probably make some similarities to.
I've got better players around me that are doing more.'
It's classic Caruso — grounded, selfless, and laser-focused. But there's no denying his Finals impact. The veteran guard, who played a crucial role alongside
during the 2020
championship run, has found new life in
. He scored 20 points in Game 2 and matched it in Game 4 — the two wins that have kept OKC alive in the series.
His Game 4 effort was one for the history books.
No player had ever come off the bench in an NBA Finals game and recorded 20 points and five steals — until Friday, when Caruso did exactly that.
'He's a competitive monster, clearly,' Thunder coach
said afterward. 'He's proven that time and again over his career. Certainly in these playoffs... I can't say enough about him as a competitor.'
From undrafted to unmissable: Alex Caruso is Oklahoma City Thunder's veteran X-factor in NBA Finals run
At 31, Caruso is the oldest player in a young Thunder locker room. But rather than slow him down, that experience has only sharpened his edge — and his leadership.
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Forward Cason Wallace summed it up: 'He plays the game, he thinks the game, and he's also coaching the game all at the same time. He's always a few steps ahead.'
Back in Los Angeles,
called Caruso 'a Swiss Army knife — he can do it all.' That praise still echoes, and in Oklahoma City, it rings truer than ever.
'It just comes down to really wanting to win,' Caruso said Friday night in Indianapolis. 'That's why my career is the way it is.
That's why I'm still in the NBA. That's why I'm here talking to you right now.'
His rise hasn't been traditional. Undrafted out of Texas A&M, Caruso once couldn't even land a summer league invite from the Dallas Mavericks — a move Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle, who was in Dallas at the time, now regrets.
'Some of these guys that go under the radar have that level of grit and determination,' Carlisle said before Game 4.
'And that's what gets them to the league and gives them longevity.'
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Caruso may never wear the cape, but he's proving just how powerful the right sidekick can be. With the Finals now tied 2-2 and the series shifting back to Oklahoma City, the Thunder's chase for a championship is still very much alive, thanks in no small part to the guy who's always a few steps ahead.