Los Angeles Lakers guide to understanding the Alex Caruso hype
By Ronald Agers
You can call it hating if you want to, but Alex Caruso has more votes than perennial All-Stars!
Things got a little crazy when Alex Caruso, who is the Lakers backup mind you was ranked 6th among Western Conference guards after the first ballots of fan votes went through? Sure, that’s cute. It won’t last, right?
Well, it’s more real than “Real Deal Holyfield”. Caruso is now currently 4th in the fan voting. But it’s the players that he is passing that is causing so much controversy around social media and Lakers fans alike. Here’s the updated list up to this point.
- Luka Doncic (DAL) 4,598,323
- James Harden (HOU) 2,934,614
- Damian Lillard (POR) 984,140
- Alex Caruso (LAL) 894,827
- Russell Westbrook (HOU) 837,187
- Stephen Curry (GSW) 819,352
- Donovan Mitchell (UTA) 673,917
- Devin Booker (PHO) 577,035
- D’Angelo Russell (GSW) 491,047
- Ja Morant (MEM) 399,703
You are reading this list right NBA fans. Alex Caruso actually has more votes than Russell Westbrook and Stephen Curry. Sure Curry has not played much this year, but understand he always in the top two in votes OVERALL!
The point is the NBA is trying to avoid popularity overlapping on-court production. Even the hardest Caruso fan is going to be able to convince anyone that he is better than Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker and D’Angelo Russell.
Ja’ Morant? If you don’t know about this kid, you had better ask somebody. Morant is the only reason Memphis is relevant. PLUS they are winning as of late. This kid is a bad boy.
Will Alex Caruso be an All-Star? Pfft, no. All-Star starters are determined by a formula (Blame Zaza Pachulia!) that combines the votes of fans, players and selected members of the media. The reserves are selected by coaches.
The players will not give Caruso a vote and it’s highly unlikely the media will either (Even if they do, they probably won’t admit it). In reality, if this climb continues, think about the outrage around the NBA fanbase.