Alex Caruso wins NBA Cares Community Assist award

Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso isn't just good at dropping dimes to his teammates for easy baskets or providing help defense, he's also great at helping others off the court. AC was recently awarded the NBA Cares Community Assist Award for those kinds of contributions. The award is given to a player who demonstrates commitment and dedication to their local communities.

Special award

Caruso was surprised with the news by Bulls coach Billy Donovan and his teammates. Instead of a film session he was shown a video that featured his parents congratulating him for being awarded the NBA Cares Community Assist Award.

Alex Caruso had no idea why the team was called into the film room.

Coach broke the news that he was awarded the NBA's Community Assist award ❤️@ACFresh21 | @NBACares pic.twitter.com/nsagguLRAb
— Bulls Community (@bullscommunity) March 3, 2023

The Texas A&M product who came from humble beginnings before becoming one of the most popular players in the league today said this award is quite special.

"It's special to win the Community Assist award because I've always been a person that said if I ever had a chance to give back, I was going to do it," said Caruso. "We have a lot of privilege and a lot of responsibility to hold ourselves to a high standard and help people that are in need. That's just the way I was raised, and I think that's something really cool that I'm able to do now."

Paying it forward

Caruso's engagement with the community focuses on helping other people gain access to high-quality food and clothing, as well as helping the youth with memorable experiences. According to NBA Cares, Caruso has worked with numerous organizations—including Dion's Chicago Dream.

The press release following this award highlighted:

"During the month of January, Caruso helped deliver meals to families and personally donated $10,000 to Dion's Chicago Dream – a local non-profit dedicated to creating financial, physical and emotional stability for residents of Chicago by helping fight food insecurity in the city. The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) also matched Caruso's donation, yielding a $20,000 contribution in total to the non-profit. As a result of the donation, 20 households are now completely food secure for all of 2023."

AC has been awarded the NBA's Community Assist Award for January ❤️

• Donated to @DChicagoDream to make sure 20 Chicago families are food secure for a year
• Donated clothes to @MikvaChallenge
• Hosted a golf party for four CPS golf teams

Thank you for all you do @ACFresh21! pic.twitter.com/2k2XPLlGNf
— Bulls Community (@bullscommunity) March 3, 2023