Recent Los Angeles Lakers rumors revolve around Alex Caruso, who apparently drew interest from the Warriors before re-signing with Los Angeles.
As of late, the Los Angeles Lakers have been involved in a nearly dizzying amount of rumors. A majority of these rumors have been relative to the free agent market given the crazy amount of signings they have made in recent memory.
One of the more recent Lakers rumors involves point guard Alex Caruso, who re-signed with the team a few days ago.
Prior to re-signing the purple and gold, though, Caruso received glimpses from other teams around the league. One of those teams was evidently the Golden State Warriors.
Per Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, the Warriors’ interest in Caruso was “significant.” Matt Borelli of Lakers Nation confirmed the report in a recent piece he wrote.
Alex Caruso received significant interest from the Warriors before re-upping with Lakers https://t.co/ezvDCWzf3M
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) July 7, 2019
The fact that the Warriors were intrigued by Caruso makes plenty of sense. At the time being, the Warriors could use an addition to their backcourt. Granted they have Stephen Curry and D’Angelo Russell, the 25-year-old would have been a fine backup option for Golden State.
As Borelli noted, Quinn Cook was another player who signed with the Lakers. Thus, the Dubs may have been trying to get payback in a sense.
Additionally, it is important to remember that sharpshooter Klay Thompson is injured. He tore his ACL in this year’s NBA Finals and is expected to miss quite a few months before returning to the hardwood.
Golden State has also lost various other pieces this offseason, including Kevin Durant and DeMarcus Cousins, who signed a one-year pact with the Lakers. Therefore, their front office has their work cut out for them, so to speak.
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Although Caruso has never played a full season for the Lakers, he has shown slivers of what he can do when he has gotten minutes. Generally speaking, the point guard has made the most of the opportunities he has been given thus far.
Throughout his first couple years in the league, he has proven himself to be a smart, gritty player. Even though he is not the kind of player that will show up in highlight reels, his decision-making is usually on cue.
Caruso played more minutes per night in 2018-2019 than he did as a rookie. This accordingly led to elevated averages of 9.2 points, 2.7 boards, and 3.1 dimes a game.
Furthermore, the guard demonstrated that he is not a slouch on the defensive side of the ball. Caruso collected one steal per game, which is noteworthy given his role as a backup.
Caruso really started to shine in the later portion of the 2018-2019 campaign. When the Lakers were out of the playoff hunt, he was given more minutes and, as expected, made the most of his opportunities.
Caruso will soon get the chance to battle for minutes along with Cook and Rajon Rondo. Despite Caruso not being a sniper from deep like Cook, the former shot the rock at a 48 percent clip from downtown as a sophomore.
Moreover, while Rondo is historically a better facilitator than his counterpart, one cannot argue Caruso is a poor playmaker. It is fair to speculate that as time progresses Alex will only get better in this realm.
As of now, it is clear the former Texas A&M product deserves a shot to see regular time at the NBA level. He especially showed promise last season and he ultimately gives the Lakers another piece to use off the bench. It is precisely why the Lakers granted him with a bigger paycheck.
While Golden State could have used a player like Caruso, the Lakers were wise to re-sign the young player. Assuming he continues to polish up his game, he could end up shouldering even greater responsibility in the time to come.