From Alex Caruso’s calculated alliances to Jalen Williams’ social charm, we rank which Oklahoma City stars possess the grit and guile to outlast the competition off the court.
We spend so much time talking about what Oklahoma City Thunder players can do on a basketball court that sometimes it’s fun to think about what they’d be like if basketball wasn’t an option.
Take them off the court, put them somewhere completely unfamiliar, give them no phones and throw them into a reality TV show.
Who’s making it the longest?
Honestly, Alex Caruso might be built for this.
Put him on Survivor and I don’t think he’d need to win every challenge. He’d probably sit back, figure out who likes who, who can’t stand each other and quietly make the right friends. Caruso has made a career out of seeing things before they happen, so I’d trust him to figure out an alliance before half the cast even realizes there is an alliance.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would be interesting for a completely different reason.
He has the personality where you could see him being extremely competitive without needing everybody to know he’s competitive. On Survivor, that could be dangerous. He could smile, hang out, make everybody comfortable and then suddenly it’s time to vote somebody out.
And somehow, you’d probably still be surprised when it happened.
Jalen Williams might be the most entertaining person on the entire show.
He’d talk to everybody. He’d make friends with everybody. He’d probably end up in conversations he wasn’t even supposed to be part of. The question is whether he’d be too likable or whether he’d accidentally talk himself into trouble.
Either way, it’d be pretty interesting to watch.
Then there’s Jaylin Williams.
He is the wild card because there are certain reality shows where he’d have a massive advantage and others where he’d immediately be asking himself why he agreed to this.
A physical challenge? Sure.
Eating something disgusting because the producers told you to? That’s where things get interesting.
Isaiah Hartenstein might actually be one of the safest bets.
He’s huge, he’s competitive and he seems like the type of person who could handle being uncomfortable without completely losing it. Give him a physical challenge and he’s probably going to be fine. Give him a group of people arguing over something ridiculous and he might just sit back and let them eliminate each other.
Cason Wallace feels like another guy you’d want on your side.
He’s not going to need to be the loudest person in the room. He’d probably listen, figure out what’s going on and make his move when he needs to. That’s a pretty useful skill when you’re stuck somewhere with a bunch of strangers.
But the real question is who gets eliminated first.
Somebody is going to get too competitive. Somebody is going to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. Somebody is going to eat food they weren’t supposed to eat.
And somebody is absolutely going to complain about sleeping on the ground.
That’s what makes the idea so fun. The things that make somebody valuable in the NBA don’t necessarily translate to reality television.
Being 7 feet tall doesn’t help you win an argument. Being an All-Star doesn’t help you build a fire. And being able to hit a step-back three doesn’t mean anything when you’re trying to convince nine strangers not to vote you off an island.
The Thunder are pretty good at basketball. But if someone ever decides to put this group on reality TV, who isn’t watching?
And betting Caruso makes it a lot further than everybody expects.
