It s a pity for the Lakers to let him go

The NBA Western Conference semi-final tiebreaker was played at home at the Thunder. The Nuggets lost 93-125 to the second round, but Gordon was eliminated with an injury. Thunder guard Caruso played for 26 minutes on the bench, scored 11 points, 3 assists and 3 steals with 5 of 7 shots, 0 mistakes in the game, plus or minus + 40 championships in the game. During the game, he was the main defense of Jokic and had a great effect, and he also tangled around Murray many times, directly destroying the Nuggets' counterattack momentum.

After the game, the Lakers tweeted and squirted wildly with the team reporter Trevor Lane. It was a mistake for the Lakers to let Caruso go back then, but now this operation is becoming more and more outrageous! Data website shows that Caruso averaged +9.6 per game in the playoffs this season, ranking fourth in the league, and even surpassed super giants such as Doncic.

Time is turned back to the summer of 2021, and inside stories of Caruso's contract renewal negotiations with the Lakers gradually emerged. The Lakers initially offered a 2-year offer of $14 million, but the Caruso team believes that its market value is at least $10 million in annual salary, and put forward a 20 million demand for 20 million in two years or 28 million in four years. But the Lakers did not meet their needs and transferred them to another player, Horton Tucker, $32 million for three years; Caruso has been a non-show and has played for the Lakers for four years, with a very small total salary, and it is difficult to accept the salary cut requirement after playing for value.

Caruso later joined the Bulls for 4 years and $37 million, leaving his favorite Lakers. The team's outside offense and defense level has since dropped by more than one level.

Caruso's career was not perfect. After going to the Development League, he was laid off by the Thunder in 2017 and then joined the Lakers. From a two-way contract player to a championship team rotation, he won James' trust with his outstanding defense and stable three-pointers. In the 2020 Finals, he can steal Butler and become an important puzzle for the Lakers to win the championship. That year, the Lakers' lineup was neat, balanced inside and outside, and a high error tolerance rate, so James played with ease.

Now time flies, Caruso ushers in the second spring of his career in the Thunder; in the offseason last year, the Thunder exchanged Gidey single for Caruso, and this deal directly raised the Thunder's defensive efficiency to the top three in the league. This season's playoffs, Caruso averaged 22.4 minutes per game, scoring 9.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.8 steals, 0.6 blocks, and 0.7 turnovers. The three shooting percentages were 45.6%, 41.7%, and 66.7%, respectively. It is the league's absolute external defense gate.

After the Lakers let Caruso go in 2021, they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs many times. Caruso became the core of the outside defense in the Bulls, and this season it helped the Thunder enter the Western Conference Finals.

In my opinion, the Lakers' operation that year was to "pick up sesame seeds and throw watermelons", and the management's positioning of Caruso was seriously offside. This guy is not a draft-based guy and started out with defense. He has trained three-pointers in the Lakers in four years (36.7% shooting percentage in his career). He has a 41.7% three-point shooting in the playoffs this season. It is the top 3D dream of many championship teams. As a result, in order to save millions, the Lakers handed over the treasures they trained to others. It was a pity.

What's more funny is that the Lakers turned around and opened a contract for Horton Tucker. In addition to being able to dribble and forcibly break through, the player was blocked in three years with the Lakers. He really didn't see the value of 32 million. Now Tucker is scrambling to live at the end of the Bulls bench, but Caruso is enjoying core treatment in the Thunder. The Lakers management's vision has to be reconsidered.

The whole league can see that Caruso is a puzzle for the championship, but the Lakers management is pretending to be blind? Thunder coach Dagnott led Caruso in the Development League in his early years and knew his defensive ability and basketball IQ. During the Bulls, Caruso was selected for the best defensive team. This season, he is still the "defensive gate" in the Thunder.

Previously, the Lakers wanted to strengthen the back line and found that there was no player of Caruso in the market at all, so they could only sign Heat veteran Vincent. Don’t want to train yourself, do you have to learn from the Warriors and play "Taobao"? As a result, without the blessing of luck, the players they got were not comparable to Caruso.

Let him go, and the Lakers' reinforcement is still a major task in the offseason; and with Caruso, the Thunder will have more confidence to lock Edwards on the stage of the Western Conference Finals, and will go a step further from the finals.