The biggest moving pieces of the NBA offseason have now settled down and we have a good idea of what the landscape of the league looks like for the 2021-22 season. The Los Angeles Lakers were one of the most active teams during the offseason, making a huge Russell Westbrook trade as well as a handful of minimum contract signings.
The Lakers were in a financial bind after the Westbrook trade but Rob Pelinka still got the job done and did a great job at that. There are still more moves left to be made for the Lakers as well as they have three more roster spots that they can utilize.
With so many cheap signings, the Lakers are bound to be on the list for the best value signings in the NBA this offseason. In fact, they make the list twice.
Here are the 5 best value signings in the NBA this offseason:
5. Alex Caruso to the Chicago Bulls: Four years, $37 million
The Los Angeles Lakers are actually involved in three signings on the most valuable signing list as they lost Alex Caruso to the Chicago Bulls. Losing Caruso is going to be a huge blow to the Lakers, who essentially let him walk away on a small contract because of the massive tax implications that would have occurred if they signed him.
The Lakers pretty much chose to sign Talen Horton-Tucker over him, as the two had similar contracts and the Lakers could only afford one without a massive tax bill. While losing Caruso is going to leave a huge hole defensively, it makes sense to go with the younger of the two players.
Caruso is such a great value to the Bulls as he is legitimately a top-five defensive guard in the league. Matisse Thybulle was the only guard who had a better Defensive Box Plus/Minus than Caruso last season with as many minutes played as Caruso last season. He is that good.
$9.25 million for that kind of defensive player is a steal, especially because that contract is locked up for four years and is staying constant. Caruso has only gotten better each year he has been in the league and by the time his contract is up, with how he is playing and the other contracts given out, he might be worth a $20 million salary.