The Los Angeles Lakers have brought two-way guard Alex Caruso up from their G League affiliate South Bay Lakers to the parent team, according to a release from the team.
Caruso, one of two L.A. players on two-way contracts, has averaged 18.8 points, 7.5 assists and 3.7 rebounds in 16 NBA G League games this season while helping South Bay to a 12-5 record that ranks first in the Western Conference.
After setting Las Vegas Summer League on fire, Caruso signed a two-way deal with the Lakers and continued to roll during the preseason. However, Caruso hasn’t gotten much of a shot with the parent club just yet.
He’s only appeared in two games for the Lakers, playing for a total of just 19 minutes, averaging one point, one rebound and two assists in those two brief appearances.
Caruso’s two-way contract allows him to spend up to 45 days with the Lakers team while making a pro-rated version of the veteran’s minimum, after which the team must either send him back down to the G League or sign him to a full NBA contract.
Their call-up of Caruso is just the latest entry in a flurry of G League activity for the Lakers after they called up Thomas Bryant from South Bay and sent down Ivica Zubac over the weekend.
The Lakers will be without Brook Lopez for at least the next three weeks as he deals with an ankle injury, and while Caruso isn’t a center, he does give the team an extra body and ballhandler as they likely will look to play a bit smaller over the next several weeks.
Caruso will head to Houston to join the Lakers for their game against the Rockets on Wednedsday night, and while it’s unknown if he’ll get any run, with guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope back in California due to a legal issue, there’s a chance the summer league fan-favorite could get a real shot to make a regular-season impression.