Alex Caruso sat down in Billy Donovan’s office in 2016 and listened while getting cut from the Thunder roster less than a month after the rookie guard had arrived in Oklahoma City.

Caruso was the first player to be released by the then-OKC head coach. However, Donovan could see the 22-year-old’s potential even as he allowed him to walk out the door.

“I was the first guy cut,” Caruso said Monday, just days after he was traded back to OKC by the Bulls. “But he talked to me and said, I think you can be an NBA player.”

After four years at Texas A&M and a short stint with OKC, the 6-foot-5 guard was playing for the Thunder’s G-League team, but he knew he had to do something to differentiate himself to make it in the NBA.

He could score. He proved that during his time with the Aggies, finishing his collegiate career with 1,090 points — which ranked 28th in program history. Even during the 2016-17 season with the Blue, Caruso averaged 11.9 points a game and shot 45.9% from the floor. Still, at the professional level, it would take more than that for the guard to earn a chance with a team.

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So, in a game that was full of aspects Caruso could not control, he turned to the one thing he could.

“It was probably when they didn’t draft me,” Caruso said about his journey to the NBA. “I knew I had to figure out a way to get on the court. That was the big thing. Just figure out a way to get on the court, and be able to take my six minutes and turn it into eight, and 10 and then 12. And that is kind of what I did when I got to LA.”

After playing for the Lakers during the 2017 NBA Summer League, he signed his first two-way contract and did exactly what he needed to do.

Fail.

“It was trial and error,” Caruso said. “They threw me in the fire a couple of times. Sometimes, I failed and sometimes I had success, but the times that I failed, I learned from it and figured out what I needed to do better.”

Caruso’s start with the Lakers is what laid his defensive foundation and created the reputation that he carried with him from Los Angeles to Chicago and now, Oklahoma City.

During his time with the Bulls, where he played for Donovan during his three seasons in Chicago, the guard established the type of player he wanted to be in the league. The two-time All-Defensive Team member was given the 2023-24 NBA Hustle Award after leading the NBA with 3.7 deflections per game.

The role player’s defensive prowess is evident, but for Caruso, who the Thunder landed in exchange for Josh Giddey, it was his experience and self-awareness that stuck out to a team whose average age on the roster was 25.

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“You watch the career he’s grinded out,” Thunder general manager Sam Presti said last week. “It’s all about the team. It’s all about the technicalities and a curiosity about his own game and what it is he does well. I mean, he’s a colossal competitor, and we want to have as many of those guys as we can in the building.”

Caruso knows that transitioning from a team that finished ninth in the Eastern Conference during the regular season to one that finished first in the West will take time. However, he is used to being patient.

Scrolling through YouTube after getting the call about the trade, Caruso watched defensive highlights of his future teammates Lu Dort and Chet Holmgren. There, he immediately understood things would be different than they were during his three seasons in Chicago.

“I mean long, athletic, competitive, tough, those are all things that we described as all-defensive caliber players and good defensive teams,” Caruso said. “They have a lot of that. They have active hands. They are willing to sacrifice for the team. Those are all things that are important, and I am excited to add to that.

“But I also know that I’m not going to be the main focus every night defensively. I think in Chicago, everyone had me as No. 1 on the radar for the defensive game plan. But I think with Lu and with Chet, those are guys you have to account for.”

Eight years after leaving the office in Oklahoma City, Caruso knows who he is as a player, and as he returns to the place that once turned him away, he will bring what he learned with him.

“I am taking it in stride,” Caruso said. “It is about showing up and being there for my teammates and pushing them to levels they didn’t know. Hopefully, they can push me too. I mean, iron sharpens iron.”

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Alex Caruso completes journey from OKC Blue to OKC Thunder