Tag: Practice

Alex Caruso got his start in professional basketball with the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s G League affiliate, in 2016.

That team — coached by a fresh-faced 31-year-old from Massachusetts named Mark Daigneault — performed the same ritual before every practice. Thirty seconds were loaded onto the scoreboard, and Daigneault asked his players for silence.

“We would call that our ‘be where our feet are’ time,” Caruso said. “If you wanted to pray, pray to yourself. If you wanted to just sit there and breathe, breathe.”

The purpose of the exercise was to practice being present. The Blue didn’t want their players to come to the court worrying about the critical corner 3 they missed in the previous game or whether a call-up to the parent club would come the following day.

What the Oklahoma City organization calls a “0-0 mentality” is drilled into its members at all levels.

“It’s not really a competitive thing. It’s a life thing,” Daigneault said. “You don’t want to be thinking about the past. You don’t want to be thinking about the future. Life is lived in the moment. The game is played in the moment.”



In Daigneault’s five years with the Blue, the team compiled a 143-107 record and made the playoffs four times. In 2020, Oklahoma City promoted him to head coach of the Thunder. That team, charting a new path forward after trading Russell Westbrook and Paul George in the summer of 2019, won a combined 46 games in Daigneault’s first two seasons.

In his third season, the Thunder finished 40-42 and got a taste of postseason play, qualifying for the Western Conference’s Play-In Tournament. Last year, the Thunder made a larger leap, winning 57 regular-season games and finishing atop the West.

This year, Oklahoma City is lapping the competition — even though the average age of its roster as of opening night was 24 years and 148 days. On Sunday, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points in his team’s 118-108 win against the Portland Trail Blazers. At 37-8, the Thunder have the NBA’s best record and are on a 67-win pace.

Daigneault, however, isn’t looking ahead.

“I think part of my job with the team is to keep the team present for the 82 games,” Daigneault said. “You can’t go back and replay anything in the past. You can’t skip ahead. The game we have right now is tonight’s game. The only way you improve through the season is if you’re present in that process.”

Last week, Gilgeous-Alexander scored a career-high 54 points in Oklahoma City’s 123-114 win over the Utah Jazz. His 35 shot attempts were five more than he had taken in any previous game. The Thunder, who had a three-point lead when he checked in for his fourth-quarter stint, needed his offensive aggression.

Gilgeous-Alexander explained to reporters that he felt he had “taken a leap in my mental” this season.

“In the past, I’ve been hyper-focused on efficiency,” Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters after the game. “In moments, I would not defer, but I would be conscious of it, and I think it would affect my decision making. This year, I think I’ve gotten over the hump of not worrying about efficiency and just playing and being aggressive and seeing where I end up.”

Put it another way: Gilgeous-Alexander is remaining more present.

“I try to be as aggressive and intelligent as I can be in every moment,” he said. “Make the right play, and make the play I’m comfortable making. No matter the moment or situation, I try not to waver from that. It’s been going well for me. It’s something I’ve had to learn.”

Gilgeous-Alexander, defensive stopper Luguentz Dort and reserve forward Kenrich Williams are the only Thunder players who remain on the team’s roster from the 2020-21 season, when Daigneault took over. Caruso took a roundabout path to return to the organization. He spent four seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers and three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. In June, the Thunder acquired him via trade, then signed him six months later to a four-year, $81 million contract extension.

In his seven years away from Oklahoma City, Caruso established himself as one of the NBA’s premier perimeter defenders. He earned All-Defensive First Team honors in 2023 and was part of the All-Defensive Second Team in 2024.

Daigneault also collected hardware last spring. He was named the NBA Coach of the Year after guiding his team of 20-somethings to 57 regular-season wins.

“Personality wise, he’s the same guy. Basketball wise, he’s gotten a lot better,” Caruso said of Daigneault. “He’s obviously worked on his craft. That’s why he’s had success. … He doesn’t do much more than basketball.”

In April, the Dallas Mavericks eliminated the Thunder in a hard-fought second-round playoff series. Oklahoma City responded by adding Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein to its core. Oklahoma City is so deep now that it was able to rattle off 15 wins in a row without Chet Holmgren earlier this season. The former No. 2 pick, who last season blocked more shots than anyone besides Victor Wembanyama, fractured his pelvis 2 1/2 weeks before Thanksgiving.

Oklahoma City is outscoring other teams by 12.3 points per 100 possessions, the highest point differential this millennium. It has the NBA’s No. 1 defense and an MVP candidate — Gilgeous-Alexander — who can score points without having to shift out of first gear.

All of the indicators suggest Oklahoma City is championship-worthy. Just don’t bring up June. The Thunder, instead, are focused on January.

“It sounds elementary, but you literally can’t be anywhere else than you are right now,” Caruso said. “Being present. Playing that game that night. You can’t get the one last night. You can’t get the next one on the schedule. Literally, all you can do is play the one on the schedule.”

(Top photo of Mark Daigneault and Jalen Williams: Alonzo Adams / Imagn Images)