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Alex Caruso and LeBron James have become one of the most effective couples in the entire league, both in the regular season and now in the NBA playoffs. It’s a bond that was on full display to the world when James relied on Caruso to make a great shot late in Game 4 of the Western Conference against the Houston Rockets to help the Lakers avoid a meltdown, but something that readers of this site they know has actually been building for quite some time.
The lineups with Caruso and James were incredible from the 2018-19 season, when the groupings that included the pair outperformed opponents by 9.1 points per 100 possessions. They clearly had chemistry, and have since proven that it was more than mere fluke at the end of the season, as they also had the best net rating of any duo midway through this season, something Caruso attributed to both of them as smart players who understand. where Caruso should cut, and when should he receive the ball, among other factors.
Their success spawned camaraderie, from James joining the online joke of calling Caruso the GOAT, until Caruso felt that James valued his commitment to winning and had helped him understand the game on a deeper level.
Considering where they started, that’s quite remarkable, because Caruso told Ben Cohen of The Wall Street Journal that he doesn’t think James was aware of his existence prior to joining the Lakers.
“He definitely didn’t know who I was,” Alex Caruso said.
Cohen’s entire profile of Caruso included the incredible headline “Alex Caruso: The LeBron of Playing LeBron,” and it’s a must-read primarily because it really shows why Caruso deserves that title. Their net two-man rating (18.6) is better than what James has had with any other teammate, and they have played enough together at this point that their success can no longer be seen simply as a statistical aberration. Caruso is just really good playing alongside James and taking advantage of the holes and tears the superstar creates in NBA defenses.
Caruso, who is as humble as pro athletes come, wasn’t expecting that statistic when Cohen introduced it to him:
Caruso was surprised by this. I was also curious. I wanted to know who else was at the top of the list. As it turned out, James’ champion teams were in their prime when he shared the court with Shane Battier, Mario Chalmers and Matthew Dellavedova, equally anonymous players who became valuable by accepting their roles. “It is a very good company,” Caruso said.
That’s actually pretty good company among LeBron RPGs. James has always been great at making guys like Caruso good, but Caruso also deserves credit for the way his skills make him the perfect remora fish to catch James’s great white shark. Clean up the easy little plays created by James reveling in his outmatched opponents, and both players benefit from the arrangement. Not a bad ending point, considering how unfamiliar James was with Caruso when they started.
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast at iTunes, Spotify, Stapler or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.
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