In early July, Los Angeles Lakers free agent guard Alex Caruso signed a two-year, $5.5 million contract after two seasons of modest numbers with the team.
While Caruso has a great reputation in the NBA, a recent photo of a more muscular frame has seemingly resulted in him having to take a random offseason drug test.
Mr. Silver is always watching. pic.twitter.com/9JVL7R2PxV
— Silver Screen and Roll (@LakersSBN) September 3, 2019
The photos above show the league notification that Caruso received as well as the photo that may have spurred the league to its action. Caruso is listed at 6-foot-5 and 186 pounds, with the latter number looking woefully inadequate when peering at the photo in question.
The 25-year-old Caruso has had no previous controversies attached to his name and will presumably pass the test. That will allow him to hopefully make greater strides this season. His first two seasons with the Lakers have seen him play in just 62 of the team’s 164 games. In those two years, he’s averaged 5.9 points, 2.5 assists and 2.1 rebounds.
Those numbers from the 2018-19 season were even higher at 9.2 points, 3.1 assists and 2.7 rebounds, which offers hope that he’ll continue to make greater strides with his overall game. That would help the Lakers with depth at the point guard spot and would reduce the need to insert LeBron James in that slot, a move that apparently will occur this year.
A four-year product out of Texas A&M University, Caruso entered the NBA as an unsigned free agent with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016, who released him during that year’s training camp. However, he was then signed to play for the Thunder’s G League team before then signing a two-way contract with the Lakers in the summer of 2017. That came after an impressive performance with the Lakers’ Summer League team.
