Alex Caruso got traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder last NBA offseason, and that move, among others, helped them go from a Western Conference finalist that fizzled out in five games to a dominant NBA champion. It’s his second career title, and the franchise’s first since the Seattle Supersonics moved to Oklahoma City. That comes with a lot of perks, including being able to come back and work a celebratory shift at the local Raising Cane’s.

That’s where New Leaf News was, but it’s also where hundreds of adoring fans crowded around trying to see and hear the NBA star. The former Chicago Bulls guard talked about a lot during his stop, including this championship, his relationship to the city that so clearly adores him, and more.

Alex Caruso Stops by Local Raising Cane’s

Alex Caruso has been a Raising Cane’s customer since his college days in Texas, where he spent a lot of late nights ordering the Caniac Combo. It was there that he got a real taste of what a sports town is like, seeing how high school football slows down an entire city and how fans come together and adore the players.

“The city shuts down and everyone’s just focused on that one thing,” Caruso said. “And you know, the signs in the yard, the flags, I’m seeing people hang jerseys from flag poles, riding on the car windows, all that stuff is is really cool for me just because if you, that’s kind of the sports era that I grew up on in College Station. You know, like I said, Texas High School Football, the Mecca, and the love and support carries with that, and I think that’s one of the coolest things.”

The fans who crowded around the Raising Cane’s in Oklahoma City are a big reason for that. “How much they supported us every single game this year, no matter who we are playing, whether it was the worst team in the league or it was a TV game on a Saturday night, they sold out to the arena. They’re chanting, they’re yelling, they’re screaming for us. And it’s tangible, and it’s real, and you can feel it,” the guard said.

“I think that’s one of the coolest things, you know, 10 a.m., a couple days after the season’s over and there’s a couple hundred people outside of Cane’s waiting to see me just to say ‘hi’ because we won a championship. Like that’s that doesn’t go unnoticed.”

Alex Caruso and the Fans

Alex Caruso is no stranger to devoted fans, though. He won his first title with the Los Angeles Lakers, an iconic franchise that captured one of its many titles when Caruso was there. Oklahoma City is different, and he is a different player than he was then.

“I think the first one I was surrounded by Hall of Fame players with pedigree, and I was learning,” he said, referring to Anthony Davis and LeBron James. “I was trying to figure it out, and I think this time around five, six years later, I knew the answers to the test, and so I was trying to give those out and help the other guys be there for the first time.”

He said there were some similarities, however, with how he picked things up and ran with them and how young Thunder players, notably Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, have been trying to learn whatever they could from him.

The teams were different, though, too. Caruso’s Lakers squad was “hand-picked” with stars to compete, while the Thunder were built “meticulously.” Part of that was acquiring Caruso for Josh Giddey. That brought him home, in a sense, because he grew up in Texas and started his NBA journey with the Thunder G-League team. He played under Mark Daigneault, the current coach of the Thunder.

“It was it was pretty surreal through the year, just driving by different places in the city that I remember driving by… All those things aren’t forgotten, and I think just the full circle moment is honestly insane, and I probably won’t be able to appreciate it for some time, but you know, I’m definitely, I’m aware of how rare that is and how cool it is,” Caruso said.

The guard said it was “super cool” to share this title run with his G-League coach that he kept up with throughout his years across the NBA. “To see his growth and evolution, and see my growth and evolution, and then marry that together and get here, and now we’re continuing to get better and continue to grow, it’s just really cool, because I think he knows me on a deeper level than some of the other guys, just because he saw me 10 years ago where I wasn’t like this polished veteran in the NBA,” he added.

Closing Shift

Alex Caruso is a relatively new member of the Oklahoma City community, but he’s clearly a beloved one. The fans waited hours, with some reportedly arriving around 4:00 am CT for a 10:00 am event. They waited, screaming and cheering for him. It may only be natural given that his arrival to this community took them from a contender to the champion in one season.