Bulls guard/forward Alex Caruso has won the Hustle Award for the 2023/24 season, the NBA announced in a press release written by Brian Martin.
According to the league, the award “honors a player who makes impactful effort plays that might not appear in the box score.” The award was created eight years ago, with Grizzlies guard Marcus Smart being a three-time winner.
Some of the hustle statistics that the NBA tracks include deflections, loose balls recovered, charges drawn, screen assists, contested shots and box-outs. Caruso led in the league in deflections per game (3.7) and on a per-minute basis, he ranked first in loose balls recovered and seventh in charges drawn.
Caruso, who was named to the All-Defensive First Team in ’22/23, is one of the NBA’s top defenders and is known for his all-out playing style. He ranked fourth in the league in steals per game (1.7) and averaged a career-high 1.0 block per game this season.
As Martin details, when Caruso was on the court, Chicago had the equivalent of Boston’s 110.6 defensive rating, which ranked second in the NBA. When he wasn’t playing, the Bulls had the equivalent of the league’s 24th-ranked defense.
A former undrafted free agent who made it into the NBA by working his way through the G League, Caruso won a championship with the Lakers in 2020. The 30-year-old had a strong all-around season in ’23/24, averaging 10.1 PPG, 3.8 RPG and 3.5 APG on .468/.408/.760 shooting in 71 games (28.7 MPG). Several of those figures represented career highs.
Caruso will earn $9.89MM in ’24/25, which is the final season of his contract. He’ll be eligible for a veteran extension this offseason.
The top five finishers for the 2023/24 Hustle Award were, in order: Caruso, Raptors forward Scottie Barnes, Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski, Thunder wing Luguentz Dort, and Hornets forward Grant Williams.
As Howard Beck of The Ringer tweets, the award is determined by aggregating the hustle stats the league tracks, so there is no voting panel.
These ancillary awards are dumb. “best teammate” “hustle award” This guy is making $10 million a year, he should hustle.
I see you haven’t heard of Tobias Harris.
It’s the NBA’s version of participation trophies.
Exactly what I was going to say. Every kid gets a participation trophy, why not NBA players too.
Participation trophies were for boomer parents upset their kid wasn’t the next Ken Griffey Jr. Absolutely no kid ever wanted a participation trophy.
I don’t know, Aaron Nesmith plays like a deer in a Walmart
I just don’t know why Lakers let Caruso walk for nothing.
He is worth 2 first round picks.
Vincent is negative asset. Making $11 million a year.
They tried, he wanted more money than they could offer.
Talen Horton Tucker
Happy for him but wtf is this award and why didn’t it go to Derrick white
How is Hart from the Knicks not mentioned?
If the NBA is going to be so lame as to have a hustle award, at least call it something like the Dave Cowens Award. That guy dove to the floor for loose balls with his team down 20 with two minutes left to play.
Waiting for most creative dap up of the year.
Best bench warmer( who leaves the seat the warmest) they have data in each chair for the season.