He's not Batman. He's Alex Caruso. And he's leading the Thunder in his own way in the NBA Finals

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Alex Caruso got asked after Game 4 of the NBA Finals if he’s aware that he’s achieved a level of superhero-type status among fans of the Oklahoma City Thunder during this playoff run.

After all, having zero 20-point games in the regular season followed by two — and counting — in the NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers tends to have an effect on people.

“For the superhero reference, we’ll just do Robin because that’s the only one I can probably make some similarities to,” Caruso said. “I’ve got better players around me that are doing more.”

That’s part of the Caruso story, and he’s just fine with that. He was part of the Los Angeles Lakers team — alongside a Batman in LeBron James — that won a title in the pandemic “bubble” in 2020. And he has helped this Thunder team — alongside another Batman in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning MVP and scoring champion who slapped on his cape and carried OKC down the stretch of Game 4 — move within two wins of what would be his second championship.

He had 20 points against the Pacers in Game 2 and 20 points again in a probably season-saving win in Game 4; it’s no coincidence that those are the games the Thunder have won in this series. And his Game 4 performance was historic; no player in finals history had ever had 20 points and five steals off the bench in a game during the title series.

Before Friday, that is, when he did just that.

“He’s a competitive monster, clearly,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “He’s proven that time and again over his career. Certainly in these playoffs … I can’t say enough about him as a competitor.”

Caruso, 31, is the oldest player on the Thunder roster. And his teammates have no problem pointing out that he’s the wise sage of the team, the vet with a ring, the one you go to for advice on virtually any topic.

“He plays the game, he thinks the game and he’s also coaching the game all at the same time,” forward Cason Wallace said. “He’s always a few steps ahead.”

Caruso’s is the quintessential story of bucking the odds. A four-star recruit out of high school, not drafted by any NBA team, and some coaches still lament letting him get away.

Among them: Rick Carlisle. Now the Indiana coach, Carlisle was with Dallas when the Mavericks brought Caruso — a Texas A&M guy — in for a workout. They didn’t even offer him a summer league deal.

Whoops.

“Some of these guys that go under the radar have that level of grit and determination that is able to get them to the league and to get them some longevity and high impact,” Carlisle said.

James, even now, still calls Caruso “one of my favorite teammates of all time.” The Thunder feel the same way about him, for obvious reasons.

Caruso doesn’t need to be Batman. Being a Robin is just fine with him.

“It just comes down to really wanting to win, being super competitive,” Caruso said. “That’s why my career is the way it is. That’s why I’ve had success. That’s why I’m still in the NBA. That’s why I’m here talking to you right now.”

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Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso (9) shoots between Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) and guard Ben Sheppard (26) during the second half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Friday, June 13, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) shoots under Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso (9) during the second half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Friday, June 13, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Indiana Pacers forward Obi Toppin (1) dunks over Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, center, and guard Alex Caruso (9), right, during the first half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso (9) reacts to a call during the second half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the Indiana Pacers, Friday, June 13, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso (9) celebrates during the second half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the Indiana Pacers, Friday, June 13, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump and top Iranian officials exchanged dueling threats Friday as widening protests swept across parts of the Islamic Republic, further escalating tensions between the countries after America bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June.

At least eight people have been killed so far in violence surrounding the demonstrations, which were sparked in part by the collapse of Iran’s rial currency but have increasingly seen crowds chanting anti-government slogans.

The protests, now in their sixth day, have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the protests have yet to be as widespread and intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities.

Trump initially wrote on his Truth Social platform, warning Iran that if it “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.”

“We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump wrote, without elaborating.

Ali Larijani, a former parliament speaker who serves as the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, alleged that Israel and the U.S. were stoking the demonstrations. He offered no evidence to support the allegation, which Iranian officials have repeatedly made during years of protests sweeping the country.

“Trump should know that intervention by the U.S. in the domestic problem corresponds to chaos in the entire region and the destruction of the U.S. interests,” Larijani wrote on X, which the Iranian government blocks. “The people of the U.S. should know that Trump began the adventurism. They should take care of their own soldiers.”

Larijani’s remarks likely referenced America’s wide military footprint in the region. Iran in June attacked Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar after the U.S. strikes on three nuclear sites during Israel's 12-day war on the Islamic Republic. No one was injured, though a missile did hit a structure there.

As of Friday, no major changes had been made to U.S. troop levels in the Middle East or their preparations following Trump’s social media posts, said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans.

In a letter late Friday to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and the U.N. Security Council, Iran's envoy asked the world body to condemn the rhetoric and reaffirm the country's "inherent right to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national security, and to protect its people against any foreign interference.”

“The United States of America bears full responsibility for any consequences arising from these unlawful threats and any ensuing escalation," said Amir Saeid Iravani, Iranian ambassador to the U.N.

Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who previously was the council’s secretary for years, separately warned that “any interventionist hand that gets too close to the security of Iran will be cut.”

Trump's online message marked a direct sign of support for the demonstrators, something other American presidents have avoided out of concern that activists would be accused of working with the West. During Iran's 2009 Green Movement demonstrations, President Barack Obama held back from publicly backing the protests — something he said in 2022 “was a mistake.”

But such White House support still carries a risk.

“Though the grievances that fuel these and past protests are due to the Iranian government’s own policies, they are likely to use President Trump’s statement as proof that the unrest is driven by external actors,” said Naysan Rafati, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.

“But using that as a justification to crack down more violently risks inviting the very U.S. involvement Trump has hinted at,” he added.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei recently cited a list of Tehran’s longtime grievances regarding U.S. intervention, including a CIA-backed coup in 1953, the downing of a passenger jet in 1988 and the strikes in June.

Protests continued Friday in various cities in the country, even as life largely continued unaffected in the capital, Tehran. Demonstrations have reached over 100 locations in 22 of Iran's 31 provinces, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. It said the death toll in the demonstrations rose to eight with the death of a demonstrator in Marvdasht in Iran's Fars province.

Demonstrators took to the streets in Zahedan in Iran's restive Sistan and Baluchestan province on the border with Pakistan. The burials of several demonstrators killed in the protests also took place Friday, sparking marches.

Videos purported to show mourners chasing off security force members who attended the funeral of 21-year-old Amirhessam Khodayari. He was killed Wednesday in Kouhdasht, over 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Tehran in Iran's Lorestan province.

Footage also showed Khodayari's father denying his son served in the all-volunteer Basij force of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, as authorities claimed. The semiofficial Fars news agency later reported that there were now questions about the government's claims that he served.

Iran’s civilian government under reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has been trying to signal it wants to negotiate with protesters. However, Pezeshkian has acknowledged there is not much he can do as Iran’s rial has rapidly depreciated, with $1 now costing some 1.4 million rials. That sparked the initial protests.

The protests, taking root in economic issues, have heard demonstrators chant against Iran’s theocracy as well. Tehran has had little luck in propping up its economy in the months since the June war.

Iran recently said it was no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program to ease sanctions. However, those talks have yet to happen as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have warned Tehran against reconstituting its atomic program.

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.

A woman shows a portrait of the late commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard expeditionary Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in 2020 in Iraq, on her smartphone during a ceremony commemorating his death anniversary at the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People wave Iranian flags as one of them holds up a poster of the late commander of the Iran's Revolutionary Guard expeditionary Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in 2020 in Iraq, during a ceremony commemorating his death anniversary at the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

This combo shows President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. and Iranian Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Bilal Hussein)