Details emerge about just how much the Lakers low-balled Alex Caruso

Losing Alex Caruso was one of the worst things that could have happened to the Los Angeles Lakers last summer. Caruso was one of the best defensive guards, was coming around on the offensive end and was undeniably impactful on the Lakers. He and LeBron James had the best net rating of any two-man combination in the league in 2019-20.

The Lakers seemed to think that they could survive without Caruso as they let him walk on a four-year, $37 million contract with the Chicago Bulls. This was less than the team gave the unproven Talen Horton-Tucker, who has statistically been one of the worst players in the league this season.

It has been well documented that the Lakers did not sign Caruso because of the impact over the luxury tax. We also know that Caruso gave the Lakers a chance to sign him for less than he got for the Bulls, only for the Lakers to rebuff that offer.

Appearing on ‘NBA Countdown’ on Friday, Adrian Wojnarowski detailed the exact contract figures that both the team and Caruso were discussing. And quite frankly, it makes the situation even more disappointing.

The Los Angeles Lakers low-balled Alex Caruso for less than $3 million.

That is right, $3 million per year kept Alex Caruso from being in LA. Granted, there would have been even more money paid by the team in the tax, but that money doesn’t hinder the team strategically, it merely keeps teams from spending too much. The Lakers are a multi-billion dollar franchise, they could have afforded it.

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According to Woj, LA initially offered Caruso a three-year, $21 million contract. Caruso got the offer from the Bulls for four years, $37 million and the Lakers were unwilling to match. Caruso then reportedly was okay with coming back to LA on a two-year deal worth $20 million, in case the length was the issue, the team said no again.

The logic here is absolutely dumbfounding. First of all, the team should be wanting to lock up Caruso for more years, not less. His style of play is always going to be productive and a $9.25 million salary is not going to keep the team from spending in the future.

What makes it even more absurd is the fact that they let $3 million get in the way of getting a deal done with Caruso. That is a rounding error for a franchise as large as the Los Angeles Lakers. The team was literally willing to pay him $7 million a season, but $9.25 per season was too much?

The team cares about its bottom line that much? Look, I know it is a business and they have to make money, but no PR attempt from the team is going to convince me that the extra $2.25 million, and the tax implications of that $2.25 million, was going to keep the Lakers from being profitable.

Heck, in a non-pandemic year the Lakers have an operating income of over $150 million! And we thought the baseball owners were cheap.