The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly didn’t even make a counter offer to guard Alex Caruso after he was offered by the Chicago Bulls.
"According to a source with knowledge of the situation, Caruso's camp went back to the Lakers after the Bulls made their offer and were told that there would be no counter."
– @sam_amick pic.twitter.com/9CCvalADGj
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 3, 2021
Caruso ended up signing a four-year, $37 million deal with Chicago, and the Lakers will try to replace him with Trevor Ariza and Wayne Ellington who they brought in as free agents.
Free agent guard Alex Caruso has agreed to a four-year, $37M deal with the Chicago Bulls, his agent Greg Lawrence of @Wasserman tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 3, 2021
During the 2020-21 season, Caruso averaged 6.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists per game while shooting 43.6 percent from the field and 40.1 percent from beyond the arc.
While his numbers don’t jump off the page offensively, Caruso was one of the Lakers’ best defenders, as he had a 2.3 defensive box plus/minus last season.
Los Angeles clearly wasn’t willing to pay Caruso as much as he got from Chicago. Time will tell if the Lakers should have offered Caruso a similar deal rather than passing on him this offseason.
Caruso will play with another former Lakers guard, Lonzo Ball, with the Bulls.
