Caruso’s story keeps growing
Former A&M star gathers cult-like status by making impact with L.A.
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M hosted South Carolina at noon Saturday, and a sizable Aggies contingent loved the matinee offering, outside of the final score.
After the Gamecocks handled the Aggies 81-67 in Reed Arena, a slew of A&M officials and fans headed down Highway 6 bound for Toyota Center, to catch a favorite son in action for the Los Angeles Lakers.
It’s almost crazy how far Alex Caruso has come since signing with the Aggies out of A&M Consolidated High in November 2011. Caruso, who owns a cult following in the NBA, grew up a few miles from Reed Arena. He still comes home plenty in the offseason.
“I see him almost every summer, he comes over and plays pickup games with us,” A&M forward Josh Nebo said. “He’s got no ego, he just comes and talks to us, and hangs out with us during the summer.”
Caruso, who’s 6-5 and 186 pounds, has picked up nonedgy nicknames like the “The Accountant” in the NBA, but don’t let the businessman-next-door appearance fool you: He can play, just as he could play at A&M Consolidated and Texas A&M, where he led the Aggies to the Sweet 16 of the 2016 NCAA tournamen along with current Rocket Danuel House Jr.
“He just does so much,” Lakers star LeBron James told reporters of Caruso. “Sometimes it shows up in the box score, sometimes it doesn’t. He can defend at a high level, and is very smart and tough. To have him on this ball club is a luxury.”
Caruso late this week also was fourth among Western Conference guards in AllStar voting among fans, upsetting some NBA followers because he’s a reserve averaging 5.7 points in about 19 minutes per game.
Caruso, 25, went undrafted in the summer of 2016 out of A&M. He played for Philadelphia in the NBA’s summer league, was signed and subsequently waived by Oklahoma City in the fall of 2016 and then spent time in the NBA’s developmental league with Oklahoma City.
He hooked on with the Lakers’ summer squad in 2017, and began turning heads with his athleticism and multiple honed skills. Two two-way contracts later, the rest is history for the College Station native now regularly contributing off the bench to the Western Conference’s top team.
Caruso, who scored 32 points in a game against the Clippers last year, signed a two-year, $5.5 million contract before this season, and his dream of making a living playing basketball was realized.
“I’ve always been someone who played better with better competition, and learned by experience,” Caruso told NBA.com. “From high school to college to the NBA, it all correlated.”
Caruso is the son of Mike Caruso, a former A&M associate athletic director for game operations. Mike Caruso retired in August 2018 in part so he and Caruso’s mother, Jackie, could travel across the country, watching one of their three children playing in the NBA.
“I was game manager for basketball, and I would get to Reed early and Alex would come with me,” Mike once recalled of his basketball-infatuated son. “He’d shoot around on the court, and he sometimes had ballboy duties during games.
“He grew up watching Acie Law and Joseph Jones and some of the other folks who were great players here.”
Now Caruso’s name is held in the same reverence around A&M — and perhaps more so considering he’s a homegrown talent. Firstyear Aggies coach Buzz Williams was an A&M assistant under then-coach Billy Gillispie from 2004-06 and remembers a pint-sized Alex Caruso making the most of his time in Reed Arena.
“His dad is one of my favorite people from my first time here,” Williams said. “And I remember Alex here as a ball boy and inviting him to camp.”
Caruso developed into a national top 100 prospect at A&M Consolidated and had plenty of top choices out of high school. He chose to stay home for then-A&M coach Billy Kennedy, and he finished his college career as A&M’s all-time leader in assists (649) and steals (276).
“It’s a really good story for a career maybe that most people would have never projected,” Williams said. “It speaks to his consistency and willingness to work. I know people within the Lakers organization, and they speak to the type of teammate that he is. How the security guard, the assistant coach, the guy who wants to be an assistant coach, the good players and the average players — they all love him.”