Alex Caruso Reveals Insult That Caused Lakers Departure

Alex Caruso found an NBA home with the Los Angeles Lakers, running the second-team offense behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Caruso's tenure with the Lakers even resulted in a 2020 NBA Championship and a whole lot of gritty defensive-minded guard play.

The successful four-year Lakers run ended when Caruso signed with the Chicago Bulls this past offseason. However, it's been revealed that Caruso wanted to stay in Los Angeles and it took an insulting offer to force him out.

Caruso recently appeared on JJ Redick's The Old Man & The Three podcast to discuss his offseason move. He approached the Lakers with Chicago's free agency offer in hand to give them an opportunity to match. Not only did Los Angeles initially say no, but said no again when Caruso asked for even less money to stay.

The podcast revealed Caruso received one single offer from Los Angeles, an insulting figure less than two years for $15 million. To add some perspective, Caruso signed a four-year, $37 million contract with Chicago.

Caruso may have the last laugh. The Bulls are currently 7-3 compared to the Lakers' disappointing 6-5 record and the guard is playing a career-high 27.9 minutes per game behind Lonzo Ball and the first-team offense.

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Adam Taylor McKillop is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Taylor also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username atmckillop. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.