Sometimes you don’t know the value of what you had until you lose it and recent developments in the NBA will have the LA Lakers having that exact same feeling.
LA Lakers‘ fortunes have shifted a bit after three consecutive wins catapulted them to sixth in the Western Conference but the soft underbelly remains.
LeBron James has beaten Father Time again to secure some big wins but Magic Johnson’s assertion about Lakers’ role players still rings true.
The defensive intensity is still not there and that three-game winning streak isn’t getting anyone to rush to crown them as contenders for a title.
One player they had could have raised their ceiling and after his latest contract extension, it is clear that the Lakers lowballing him at the time is a move that has aged like milk.
The last time the Lakers won a championship was in the 2019/20 season and a 25-year-old guard was doing the grunt work in a team of superstars.
Alex Caruso had established himself in the NBA as a defensive pest and a moderately reliable three-point shooter, the type of role player championship success is built on the efforts of.
He played 24 minutes per game for that championship run and after establishing himself as a genuine NBA commodity, he was looking to get paid.
The Chicago Bulls offered him a four-year, $37 million deal but Caruso wanted to remain a Laker. He offered them the chance to match it so he could remain there.
Instead, the Lakers’ best offer for him was a three-year, $21 million deal because they wanted to prioritize keeping hold of Talen Horton-Tucker, who they paid $32 million over three years.
Caruso went from strength to strength with the Bulls, finishing in the top 10 for the Defensive Player of the Year award once and making the All-NBA Defense Team twice (1st and 2nd).
The Bulls reached the playoffs only once with him, where he started all four games but his value to a championship contender was clear. So one pounced on him.
After getting traded by the Bulls in the last year of his deal, the Oklahoma City Thunder brought him on as they looked to build on a team brimming with potential.
Caruso brought his trademark hustle and effort to the Thunder and the result is the Thunder sitting first in the West with the best defense in the NBA.
Caruso has played 20 minutes per game, all from the bench, but his defensive intensity remains unmatched which is why he’s just been awarded a four-year, $81 million contract extension.
That’s more than twice the amount that Caruso asked of the Lakers, and that too only as a matching offer, not even a winning one.
The Lakers are in defensive purgatory this season and the fact they could have the perfect player right now to tackle that issue wouldn’t make things any easier.
Alex Caruso is the LA Lakers’ biggest regret.
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