The Oklahoma City Thunder capped off a memorable season by defeating the Indiana Pacers, 103-91, in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals to capture their first championship since relocating from Seattle.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander recorded 29 points, 12 assists and five rebounds in the decisive victory en route to being named Finals MVP. He became the first player to win the award in both the regular season and Finals, as well as the scoring title, since Shaquille O’Neal did so with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000.
At just 26 years of age, Gilgeous-Alexander is already carving out a career for himself as an all-time great.
Former Lakers guard Alex Caruso believes his Thunder teammate is similar to LeBron James in many ways.
“Yeah, I mean, comparing to LeBron is a crazy start just because LeBron was anointed at 18 years old, surpassed everything that has ever been put in front of him,” Caruso said.
“But as far as face of the league, best player on best team, he’s got that capability. Clearly the year he’s had, MVP, Western Conference Finals MVP, Finals MVP, champion. I don’t think anyone will question his ability. I think the thing that sets him apart is he’ll probably be hungry for more.
“He probably won’t be satisfied with winning this one time. He’ll want to be better. He’ll want to see how he can tweak and maneuver his game to a better fit and take advantage of the way people guard him. That’s just the special ability that he has mentally to be competitive and want to be great.”
Caruso won his first NBA championship as a teammate of James with the Lakers in 2020 and now believes Gilgeous-Alexander is destined for the same greatness.
As he returned to the NBA Finals for a second time, Caruso gave credit to James for teaching him how to be a professional.
Alex Caruso jokes that he won ‘real’ championship with Thunder
After the Thunder defeated the Pacers in Game 7, Alex Caruso joked that he finally won a real title.
“Yeah, no, I got a real one now. Now no one can say anything [laughter],” Caruso joked. “Yeah, I think just because of the way the team is constructed now versus the team I had in 2020, like, it was much harder with this team just because of the experience, right? Everybody talked about you need experience to win a championship and you need this, that and the other. I said multiple times through the postseason with this team, good basketball is good basketball, winning basketball is winning basketball.
“The best team can win, no matter what happens if you go out there and execute and do the stuff you need to do to win the game. I think through the Playoffs, this team grew up and learned on the fly, which most teams have to learn through losses and learn through defeat. I think this team learned through success. It’s a unique capability to be able to do that for 21 to 27-year-old kids. For me, I’ve seen greats do it, so I knew the way, I knew the mindset. But to see these guys do it, man, it’s really cool to see it in person. I’m so happy for the guys to be able to figure it out and to be able to get this done.”
A lot of people still don’t recognize the Lakers’ 2020 championship as real since it came in the bubble with no fans in attendance.
However, Caruso has defended the Lakers’ title as legit in the past and quickly took to social media to make sure everyone knew he wasn’t being serious with these comments.
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