Alex Caruso believes this has been the best offensive season of his career

Caruso has felt more confident with his offense this season.

© David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports

While defense continues to be Alex Caruso’s forte, his offense has also improved this season. The 30-year-old guard has become a reliable scoring threat for the Chicago Bulls, averaging 9.8 points on 47 percent shooting, both career-highs. The undrafted player out of Texas A&M even went as far as to say he believes this is his best offensive season.

Take advantage of opportunities

With the Bulls having talented scorers like DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, and Coby White, who often get the bulk of the defense’s attention, Caruso knew he needed to make the most of his opportunities when they came. And that’s exactly what he has done, shooting the most three-pointers in his seven-year career, making nearly 39 percent of them.

“I think offensively, it’s probably my best. I think the numbers show that. I think I’m close to 10 points a game. And I’m pretty sure I’m close to 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio,” Caruso shared in a talk with NBC Sports Chicago.

This season ...

Ayo Dosunmu from 3 – 40.8%
Alex Caruso from 3 – 38.6%

The volume isn't the highest, but I give them major props for working hard to help improve an area of need for this squad. Those two keep doing their part to try to make this team better.

— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) March 2, 2024

Bothered by a strained tendon

The one knock on Caruso in his career is his inability to stay available. This season, Caruso has missed 10 games and revealed that he’s battling through a strained tendon in his right thumb, which has adversely affected his shooting stroke.

“I had a strained tendon in my right thumb for most of January and February, and there were a couple games where I almost couldn’t push off on my thumb. And it was frustrating because I still had to take shots. But it didn’t feel good at all. And I kind of knew they weren’t going to go in at the same rate I had been accustomed to—like the 40, 45 percent I had been shooting. I was closer to the high 20s or low 30s,” Caruso added.

“But at the end of the day, I’m trying to win games. So, I couldn’t care about personal statistics; I still had to take the right shots. All the numbers don’t matter if we don’t win games.”

COOKIES.@NBCSChicago | @ACFresh21 pic.twitter.com/jJzgxYyV9p

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) March 5, 2024