Lakers: Should LA Have Kept Alex Caruso Over Talen Horton-Tucker?

Did the Lakers make the right choice in prioritizing THT's future ceiling over Alex Caruso's current floor?

The Lakers had a big decision to make in free agency this summer. 

They had two exciting young-ish prospects, in guards Alex Caruso and Talen Horton-Tucker, hitting the open market. They knew they probably did not have the resources on their roster (at the time) to retain both players without making some moves.

So they made some moves... that landed them Russell Westbrook and more or less kept their salary cap maxed out. Meaning they ultimately still had to pick between Caruso and THT. Caruso, a great defense-first bench combo guard who was also a solid long-range shooter and occasional dunker, seems to have reached his ceiling, given his age (nearly 28). He was one of the great perimeter defenders on a championship club in 2020, along with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Danny Green.

The 6'4" Caruso went undrafted out of Texas A&M University in 2017, and proved to be a steal when scooped up by the Lakers.

Horton-Tucker, meanwhile, is days away from his 21st birthday even now. He has shown some flashes of promise on offense and, beyond raw athleticism, nothing much on defense. Also, 6'4" Horton-Tucker was drafted with the 46th pick in the 2019 draft out of Iowa State by the Magic and flipped to LA.

He holds career averages of 8.7 points per game, 2.6 assists per game, and 2.5 rebounds per game, but gives the Lakers nothing on defense or from long-range as a career 28.5% three-point shooter. THT has yet to play a game this season as he recovers from surgery on a broken thumb.

The Lakers ultimately decided to go for the promise of Talen Horton-Tucker over the guaranteed contributions of Alex Caruso this summer, which in a vacuum is totally fine.

Unfortunately, absolutely none of the rest of the Lakers' roster moves were made with an eye towards the future as opposed to the present. Los Angeles signed a bunch of over-the-hill veterans who used to be effective two-way players, hoping some would stick. With defense being so finite on the wing, LA has desperately turned to Avery Bradley and undrafted rookie Austin Reaves to shore up the team's defense.

Why would you sign a guy who has not proven to be much of anything yet, in a year when you could really, really use the exact things another homegrown talent gives you?

The Lakers brought back Horton-Tucker on a three-year, $32 million deal, while ultimately balking at matching the four-year, $37 million contract tendered to Caruso by the Chicago Bulls. Caruso has already proven to be an absolute defensive monster for Chicago. Again, Horton-Tucker has given LA nothing to this point, even when healthy. His relatively modest contract, youth and size and occasional scoring flurries could eventually make him one of LA's most tradable players. So I guess that's something.

Through nine games this season with the 6-3 Bulls, Caruso is averaging 8.1 points per game, 4.1 assists per game, 2.4 rebounds per game, and an insane 2.3 steals per game (tied for the fourth-best mark in the entire league!) across 28.3 minutes a night. The assists and steals are career-highs. He is connecting on 46.3% of his field goal attempts and 35% of his 2.2 three-point looks a night.

THT has returned to Lakers practice recently, so hopefully LA will find out what exactly they paid for sooner rather than later:

Talen Horton-Tucker doing some dribbling with his right hand at Monday morning shootaround. pic.twitter.com/D3gltCiZMM

— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) November 8, 2021

Should team president Rob Pelinka and secret team president LeBron James have strongly considered retaining Caruso and letting Horton-Tucker walk instead? It sure looks like it. They better hope that, whenever he does return, THT can be the sort of two-way guy that Caruso already is.