Dub Hub: Draymond Green praises Alex Caruso as key to Thunder’s NBA Finals success

Rounding up all Warriors and NBA related news for Tuesday, June 10th.

In today’s Dub Hub:

• In the latest episode of The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis, Draymond Green explains why he believes Alex Caruso is the Thunder’s “third-most important player.”
• Legendary Warriors’ coach Don Nelson named recipient of the 2025 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award.
• Cavs’ Darius Garland likely to miss the beginning of next season after undergoing toe surgery, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

As a four-time NBA champion, Draymond Green knows what it takes to win on basketball’s biggest stage. So when the Golden State Warriors veteran breaks down what separates contenders from the rest, his insight carries weight.

During a recent episode of The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis, Green dissected the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Game 2 win over the Indiana Pacers — spotlighting a surprising name as the team’s “third-most important player” in their NBA Finals run: backup guard Alex Caruso.

While Oklahoma City is headlined by league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, rising star Jalen Williams, and former No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren, Caruso has emerged as a stabilizing force in the Finals. He’s delivered in key moments on both ends of the court — scoring 11 points in Game 1 and 20 in Game 2, while shooting a combined 5-of-12 from beyond the arc off the bench.

Caruso, 31, won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 and is the oldest player on the Thunder’s roster. Oklahoma City may be built around youth, but as Green pointed out, it’s the veteran with a championship pedigree who could be their ultimate X-factor — just as experienced role players were so often the difference-makers during the Warriors’ own title runs.

For more on this and other news around the NBA, here is our latest news round-up for Tuesday, June 10th:

Warriors News:

Draymond, Livingston note how 2024-25 Thunder compare to 2014-15 Warriors | NBC Sports Bay Area

“Where I think they’re similar is the age; young guys with a few vets, like [Isaiah] Hartenstein, but not Chet [Holmgren]; Shaun [Livingston], [Andre Iguodala], they weren’t our age, so we kind of had that balance – and [Andrew] Bogut, [David] Lee, they were (also) the older guys.

“[Alex] Caruso has been there before, right? I think they’ve got a few vets like we had that kind of settles things down for them. And they got young guys, Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander], [Jalen Williams] just kind of out there running wild doing their thing, relying on their talent, obviously thinking the game, but not to the level of the vets – because they’ve just seen more.”

Draymond Green recalls the Luka Doncic trade to the Lakers

There’s finally some clarity with Jonathan Kuminga’s Warriors future | SF Gate

According to Poole, the end result of this specific period should be that Kuminga remains with the Dubs.

“The tea leaves, as well as scuttlebutt around the NBA, is that the Warriors very likely will find a way to hang on to JK,” the veteran Warriors reporter said. “Doesn’t mean that he’s going to be a long-term answer.”

Stephen Curry, Caleb McLaughlin, Gabrielle Union, & Nick Kroll Set For Voice Cast Of Sony Pictures Animation’s Sports-Themed Movie ‘Goat’– Annecy | Deadline

The original action-comedy set in an all-animal world, follows Will (voiced by McLaughlin), a small goat living a downbeat life in an urbanized jungle community called Vineland, who is obsessed with roarball, spending every spare minute at the public court practicing moves and shooting hoops.

A high-intensity, co-ed, full-contact sport dominated by the fastest, fiercest animals in the world, roarball takes its cue basketball but with modifications to fit the animal kingdom such as a special perforated hardball, suited to paws and claws, as well as regulations allowing two and four-legged movements.

Will’s big dreams become reality when he gets a once-in-a-lifetime shot to join the pros and play for his local team, the Thorns.

His new teammates aren’t thrilled about having a little goat on their roster, but Will is determined to revolutionize the sport and prove once and for all that “smalls can ball!”

Former Warriors Head Coach Don Nelson receives 2025 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award

NBA News:

Tyrese Haliburton, fueled by slights, just keeps burning brighter | The Athletic

“Our team was kind of at a crossroads,” Buchanan told The Athletic by phone on Friday while reflecting on the Haliburton trade. “We didn’t really have a guy, like a young player, that you could really build around. Now Domas (Sabonis) was a terrific player and a very productive player. But we felt like in today’s modern NBA, it’s hard to build around a center unless you’ve got, like, a (Denver Nuggets star Nikola) Jokić — an MVP-caliber center. So we tried to target some young guards, playmaking guards around the league that we thought maybe fit the bill. They’re very hard to acquire, obviously.

“We felt like Tyrese, with the way Rick wanted to play, and how we want to build a team in the modern NBA — playing faster, playing a little more random. Tyrese was one of the ideal targets to try to build that type of system around.

Cavs’ Darius Garland likely to miss the start of next season after undergoing toe surgery

The Ringer’s Zach Lowe thinks the Clippers will be ‘involved’ in Kevin Durant trade discussions

In case you missed it at Golden State of Mind:

Warriors pre-draft workouts, Tuesday batch

Nembhard showed confidence about his ability to read pick-and-roll coverage and his experience playing in a “read-and-react offense,” much more akin to NBA offenses than college ones. The Canadian guard also told reporters they might be surprised by his ability to guard bigger players and switch on defense, essentially addressing the biggest concern about his six-foot height.

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