Lakers: Alex Caruso Thinks Austin Reaves is Already Better Than He Was in His First Year

High praise from a guy that Lakers fans loved a lot.

The Lakers are missing Alex Caruso this year. After he departed to Chicago via free agency, fans really started to see that he was a big part of Los Angeles winning games. Especially given the role that he played on defense for Frank Vogel. 

But Caruso got paid and is doing great work with the Bulls. It's hard not to be happy for a guy that is so virtually loved in Los Angeles. And he still has every bit of love and respect for the Lakers. 

Recently, Caruso spoke with Bryan Kalbrosky of Hoops Hype about his former team. That includes a whole lot of praise for Austin Reaves. 

While Caruso outpaces Reaves on defense, the Oklahoma product has done a lot of really good things with the ball for the Lakers this year. He's averaging 21 minutes per game and thriving in the roll Vogel has had him in when healthy. 

Naturally, he's going to see his playing time decrease as the Lakers continue to get healthy. Reaves is also sidelined right now with a hamstring issue and has been out since early November. 

But Reaves can be a weapon for Vogel off of the bench. That's going to play up big time as the Lakers head towards the playoff stretch.