I don’t want to give it to 30 million! The Lakers don’t want Caruso to become a surprise, where did Tucker go?

The Lakers have been eliminated by the Timberwolves in the first round, but whenever Alex Caruso performs well, the Lakers' management will be pulled out and scolded - 4 years ago they chose the latter between Caruso and Horton Tucker. Now Caruso has become a top 3D and the role player that the Lakers need the most. He has helped the Thunder reach the Western Conference Finals with excellent offense and defense, and has received a lot of praise. However, Tucker has gradually become a fringe person in the NBA. It has been a long time since he has not heard of him, which has also made the Lakers' original decision a joke in the league.

Time goes back to the summer of 2021. Due to limited salary space, the Lakers must choose between Caruso and Tucker. Caruso wants a three-year, $30 million contract renewal, but the Lakers feel that his undraft has limited room for growth. In addition, he averaged only 6.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game in the 2020-2021 season. Therefore, the Lakers are only willing to give him a two-year, $14 million contract renewal. When the Bulls offered a 4-year, $37 million offer, the Lakers decided to let the hero leave.

At that time, the Lakers thought that Caruso could do what Tucker could do. Tucker was 1.93 meters tall. Although he was 3 cm shorter than Caruso, his wingspan was 2.17 meters long. He was strong and had good dynamic talent. The most important thing was that he was only 20 years old. He averaged 9 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1 steal in the 2020-2021 season. The data was better than Caruso. As long as he was trained, the young man would definitely become a player with better defense and offense. In the end, the Lakers renewed Tucker with a three-year, $32 million contract. After being forced to leave the Lakers, Caruso played for the Bulls for three seasons, was selected for one best defense first team, one best defense second team, and one best fighting award, helping the Bulls to reach one playoffs. Last summer, the rising Thunder needed an experienced 3D player to help them win in the playoffs, so they sent Kiddy, who has All-Star potential, to Chicago in exchange for Caruso, a deal that was no less than that of the Warriors' Iguodala.

Caruso averaged 7.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.6 blocks in the regular season, with a shooting percentage of 44.6% and a three-point shooting percentage of 35.3%. Just looking at the data is not amazing, but anyone who has watched Caruso's game should know that his role is difficult to reflect the data. Unlike the Lakers, which do not know the goods, the Thunder knows the value of Caruso and chooses to renew his contract in advance with a four-year, $81 million contract, treating him as a long-term partner.

In the playoffs, Caruso's performance on both offense and defense made Lakers fans shed tears of nostalgia. Morant defended Morant in the first round and Murray in the second round, and Jokic was uncomfortable in the tiebreak battle. He also performed well in the Western Conference Finals defense. His ability to switch defense and his sense of replacing teammates in time have brought the Thunder's defense to a higher level. To date, the Thunder's defensive efficiency ranks first in the league, while Caruso's defensive efficiency ranks second among all players.

When he shined on the defensive end, he performed well on the offensive end, averaging 9.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, shooting percentage of 47% and three-point shooting percentage of 45.1%. His offensive efficiency ranks 19th in the league. His net efficiency when he was on the court reached 21.2, ranking third in the league. In this young team, his presence is particularly important. He can always do the right thing and move the team in the right direction. Such a player is needed by all championship teams, including the Lakers. But they let Caruso go for Tucker at the beginning. Where is the one who stayed Tucker now? In the first season after the contract renewal, Tucker averaged 10 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.5 blocks per game for the Lakers, but his shooting percentage was only 41.6% and his three-point shooting percentage was only 26.9%. Tucker was able to average double-point scores per game, just because after Caruso left, he had more opportunities. He could never practice defense and three-pointers, and he could not do anything except a one-handed back-scratch. The most fatal thing is that his ball quotient is not high, he cannot accurately execute tactics, cannot appear in the right position, and cannot handle the ball well.

It only took one season for the Lakers to despair him and Stanley Johnson to the Jazz and get defensive player Beverly. In the Jazz, who was in the reconstruction period, Tucker obtained more ball rights than in the Lakers, and his average score increased accordingly, but his skills were still so monotonous and his scoring efficiency was still so low. In the Jazz's first season, his shooting percentage was 41.9%, his three-point shooting percentage was 28.6%, and his second season averaged 10.1 points, his shooting percentage was only 39.6%, and his three-point shooting percentage was 33.3%.

In today's basketball era, it is too fatal to have no shooting ability. Even though he scored 41 points in a single game, the Jazz still gave up on him after the contract expired. He was ignored in the free market. Surprisingly, this player, who was once regarded as a treasure by the Lakers, was facing a situation where he had no ball to play at the age of 23, and could not even get a basic salary contract. It was not until the new season was about to begin that he got a partial guarantee contract from the Bulls of his hometown team. This season he was in Chicago, and he averaged only 6.5 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game, and he did not perform well on both offense and defense. I don't know if he can get a new contract this summer. Good luck!