10 Former players that have excelled since leaving the Los Angles Lakers

2. Alex Caruso, Chicago Bulls

Much like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alex Caruso thrived as a defensive specialist for the Los Angeles Lakers. Caruso spent four seasons in Los Angeles, including 2019-20, when he appeared in all 21 of the Lakers' playoff games en route to winning the NBA championship.

For as good as Caruso was with the Lakers, an argument can be rather easily made that he's played the best individual basketball of his career with the Chicago Bulls.

Caruso, 30, has spent the past three seasons with the Bulls. During that time, he's gone from averaging no more than 21.2 minutes per game with the Lakers to exceeding 28.0 in two of this three years in Chicago.

A key cause for that is the fact that Caruso has cemented his status as one of the best defensive players in the NBA while also shoring up his outside shot.

Caruso has earned All-Defense honors in each of the past two seasons, which appropriately reflects the level of defensive brilliance he's reached. In 2023-24, he knocked down a career-high 136 three-point field goals while shooting 40.8 percent from beyond the arc.

Caruso is now entering the final season of his current contract, thus making him a player the Lakers could potentially target via trade.

In the meantime, Caruso will continue to be a player whom Lakers fans wish had never left Los Angeles.