3. Alex Caruso
The Lakers didn’t win the championship because of Alex Caruso, but having a player as good as him for next to nothing (in NBA salary terms) makes it much easier to build the right roster around their actual superstars. At 26-years-old, Caruso is in the prime of his career and is only set to make $2.75 million this upcoming season.
The NBA salary cap is set at $109 million, a figure that the financially mighty Lakers can easily blow past, meaning Caruso takes up less than two percent of the team’s total salary commitments. Caruso averaged 18.4 minutes a game in the regular season and 24.3 minutes a game in the playoffs.
While Caruso isn’t an offensive force, he is a very good perimeter defender. The Lakers had the third-best defensive rating in the league and Caruso was an integral part of their success.
Caruso ranks third because he is only under contract for one more season and his usefulness to teams without two bonafide superstars is limited. However limited he is, the Lakers kept him around throughout all of their roster turnover for a reason.
He’s good, young and cheap. Caruso will likely hit free agency next offseason and see a substantial raise. If the Lakers are wise, they won’t be the team that gives it to him, because he’ll instantly become a bad contract as soon as he’s making more than the NBA poverty-line.
Alex Caruso didn’t win the Lakers the NBA championship but he gave them the financial and roster flexibility to do so. That won’t get him in the Hall of Fame but it should earn him the eternal respect and love of Lakers fans.