Los Angeles Lakers guide to understanding the Alex Caruso hype
By Ronald Agers
You’d be surprised how many “NBA casuals” watch their Twitter Feed than the actual game.
The NBA is the one sports league that understands the powers of social media. Whether it be Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, it only takes one event at the right time and circumstance to be introduced to the world.
For Alex Caruso, it took one dunk. Against the then, World Champion Golden State Warriors on TNT with Kevin Harlan on the call. You may not know the name, but you definitely know the voice.
https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1114008356509835269
Let’s break down where the mythical ascension to cult started at this moment.
- Let’s be clear here. Absolutely no one saw a G League player on a Lakers team playing out the string coming from nowhere to catch a tip dunk with one hand.
- No one could believe that Caruso dunked on three people to do it. Two of them were seven-footers in Kevin Durant and JaVale McGee. Add on one of the “Splash Brothers” in Klay Thompson? Priceless.
- The Golden State Warriors at the time were considered unbeatable on their way to their third straight NBA title.
- Alex Caruso was as cool as a fan while everyone else was going crazy. He knew the golden rule: Act like you’ve done it before.
Notice where the camera went to? LeBron James. LeBron was shocked along with his fanbase. Caruso’s popularity was born then. NBA Twitter blew up to the point that no really knew that this wave of popularity would be carried through to the All-Star break.
Alex Caruso at first glance was believed to be some scrappy hustle player who would be back in the G League after the season to continue his career.
But then Caruso had his offseason workout regiment make the rounds on social media.
https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1164666798593044480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1164666798593044480&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fheavy.com%2Fsports%2F2019%2F08%2Flakers-alex-caruso-offseason-body-transformation%2F
The Caruso stans started to doctor the pictures to make his arms huge look like a superhero. The tweets commanded so much attention that the NBA actually asked for a random drug test.
Now at this point, the Lakers have a marketable star that provides another reason for fans to come to the Staples Center.