Lakers Rumors

Report: Lakers didn’t even give Alex Caruso counter after he got offer from Bulls

Published by
Peter Dewey

The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly didn’t even make a counter offer to guard Alex Caruso after he was offered by the Chicago Bulls.

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.

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.

Peter Dewey

Peter is a graduate of Quinnipiac University where he covered the MAAC and college basketball for three years. He has worked for NBC Sports, the Connecticut Sun and the Meriden Record-Journal covering basketball and other major sports. Follow him on Twitter @peterdewey2.

Published by
Peter Dewey

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