Alex Caruso is playing exceptionally good this season for his new team, the Chicago Bulls.
Caruso is currently leading the league in steals per game with an average of 2.6 steals in just 27 minutes off the bench. The 6’5 guard is averaging 8.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists on a very efficient 49% shooting from the field, 41% from behind the arc and 86% from the charity stripe.
NBC Sports’ Chicago Bulls Twitter account recently posted a highlight of Caruso and even roasted the Los Angeles Lakers with a caption “Lakers dumb as hell”
Caruso revealed this week the very reason why he chose the Bulls over the Lakers.
The Lakers didn’t re-sign Caruso last summer even if Caruso was willing to take a discount just to stay with the purple and gold.
Caruso signed a four-year, $36.9 million contract with the Chicago Bulls in the off-season. He was willing to stay on the Lakers for at least $30 million contract over three years but the Lakers said no.
“I really didn’t hear much from any team — including the Lakers — leading up to [the start of free agency at] 6 p.m., and then they called, and the Lakers made their offer. It wasn’t an offer I was going to accept because I was going to be able to get considerably more money from another team…
I got on the phone with [Bulls GM Artūras Karnišovas] and with [head coach Billy Donovan], and the way they were just talking about how they wanted to play and how they saw me as a player, I thought they hit the nail on the head. I thought everything they said, I was like ‘I think that’s accurate, I think that’s what I bring to the table, I think that’s how I can help the team win, I think that’s the direction this team wants to go.’ I thought there was a need for the stuff that I had.”
The Lakers were clearly missing Caruso’s defense and leadership this season as the team are currently ranked 7th (tied with Cavs, Mavs, Nuggets, Heat, Knicks, Suns) on team’s defense while the Bulls were ranked 2nd in the league.. Though the team seems to find their new AC in Austin Reaves.
About Author
