Alex Caruso’s trophy case got a little more crowded Thursday.
The NBA announced that Caruso was the recipient of the league’s Hustle Award, becoming the second Bulls player to win the award (Thaddeus Young in 2020-21) since it was introduced in the 2016-17 season.
It wasn’t the only hardware Caruso was expected to win this offseason, especially after he earned All-Defensive first-team honors last year and had a season worthy of candidacy again this year.
The Hustle Award recognizes players who help their team win on both ends of the floor on the basis of statistics that aren’t always seen in the traditional box score, including deflections, loose balls recovered, charges drawn, screen assists, contested shots and box-outs.
Along with averaging a career high in scoring (10.1 points per game), the former Texas A&M guard shot 40.8% from three-point range on a career-best 4.7 attempts per game. He ranked first among all players in deflections per game (3.7), seventh in loose balls recovered (73) and seventh in contested three-point shots (221). Among all guards, he ranked tied for ninth in charges drawn (12) and 13th in defensive shots contested (357).
This marks the first time Caruso received the award, following three-time winner Marcus Smart.