Alex Caruso – Los Angeles Lakers

Entering the league as an undrafted guard that had to earn his roster spot through the G-League, Alex Caruso is now in his fourth season with the Los Angeles Lakers and has quickly become a pivotal member of their championship-defending team. 

Last year in the NBA Bubble, Caruso’ role fluctuated with Rajon Rondo also taking up a lot of the guard minutes on the court, but now, Caruso has emerged as a key member of the Lakers’ rotations and without him, they may have lost the 7-seed play-in game to the Warriors. 

In that game, Caruso finished with 14 points off-the-bench, but he played 30 minutes and was a big factor for them on both ends of the court. Not only was he their leading scorer at the half with 12 of their total 42 points, but Alex Caruso made a huge difference guarding Stephen Curry. 

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Now, there is no way anybody is going to stop Curry, but down the stretch of the game, his physical play on the 2x MVP and his ability to be a “pest” on the ball caused a couple of Warriors’ turnovers that led to critical baskets at the other end for the Lakers. 

Alex Caruso is not going to be an All-Star type player in this league and is nothing more than a guy who plays his role perfectly on the Lakers, but his presence in the fourth quarter showed, especially when LeBron James and Anthony Davis trusted him with the ball in his hands on offense. 

From about the 7-minute mark in the fourth quarter on against the Warriors, LeBron James would receive the inbounds, he would then defer the ball to AD, who would then defer the ball to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and then the ball would go to Alex Caruso, who all of them were comfortable with being the “point guard” late in the game. 

The respect Caruso has earned from his coaches and teammates is quite remarkable and now, he finds himself as one of the keys to success on a team with one of the greatest players of All-Time in LeBron James. If the Lakers are going to have any chance of repeating as champions, Alex Caruso is going to have to continue to have games like he did against the Warriors and be a true x-factor for Los Angeles.