Bulls sign Alex Caruso - 4 years, $37 million

[SaNdMiRkS]

When the Lakers won the chip 2 seasons ago, he came through with timely play after timely play. He'll play some motivated defense and hit a big shot for us every now and then... but does this mean Coby is gone??

...are we *seriously* referring to that glorified summer league tourney that was played in freaking Orlando as a 'chip'...?

The Lakers haven't won anything in over a decade

[League Circles]

Never heard of this dude lol

[dice]

Keeping the full MLE would be great for the Bulls. I like the fact that we are being aggressive.

as opposed to...not using the MLE?

Bulls could sign Caruso and then still have the full MLE to spend elsewhere if you read the comment above.

i understand that. but it's not a notable move. the TPE for S&Ting theis would have been $8.4 mil. the MLE is $9.7 mil

[TyrusRose2425]

as opposed to...not using the MLE?

Bulls could sign Caruso and then still have the full MLE to spend elsewhere if you read the comment above.

i understand that. but it's not a notable move. the TPE for S&Ting theis would have been $8.4 mil. the MLE is $9.7 mil

Caruso's 1st year salary will fit in that TPE. You still have full MLE to spend elsewhere

[dice]

When the Lakers won the chip 2 seasons ago, he came through with timely play after timely play. He'll play some motivated defense and hit a big shot for us every now and then... but does this mean Coby is gone??

...are we *seriously* referring to that glorified summer league tourney that was played in freaking Orlando as a 'chip'...?

there will be no asterisk in the history books. and the lakers weren't trying any harder than anyone else

[dice]

Bulls could sign Caruso and then still have the full MLE to spend elsewhere if you read the comment above.

i understand that. but it's not a notable move. the TPE for S&Ting theis would have been $8.4 mil. the MLE is $9.7 mil

Caruso's 1st year salary will fit in that TPE. You still have full MLE to spend elsewhere

so the bulls payroll will be salary cap plus TPE (caruso) plus MLE?

[Michael Jackson]

Watch on YouTube

[TyrusRose2425]

i understand that. but it's not a notable move. the TPE for S&Ting theis would have been $8.4 mil. the MLE is $9.7 mil

Caruso's 1st year salary will fit in that TPE. You still have full MLE to spend elsewhere

so the bulls payroll will be salary cap plus TPE (caruso) plus MLE?

We have no capspace as we chose to operate above the cap.

If we fit Caruso into the TPE our assets remain:

- Full MLE
- Lauri S&T ability
- Valentine S&T ability
- Felicio S&T ability
- Thad Young if we want to trade him

Not sure about MMLE and Bi-Annual Exception and how those things work but I think we still have both?

[PaKii94]

Caruso's 1st year salary will fit in that TPE. You still have full MLE to spend elsewhere

so the bulls payroll will be salary cap plus TPE (caruso) plus MLE?

We have no capspace as we chose to operate above the cap.

If we fit Caruso into the TPE our assets remain:

- Full MLE
- Lauri S&T ability
- Valentine S&T ability
- Felicio S&T ability
- Thad Young if we want to trade him

Not sure about MMLE and Bi-Annual Exception and how those things work but I think we still have both?

We have the BAE (I think that's a two year contract?). No to MMLE

[Brothaman33]

AK out here just finding money

[TyrusRose2425]

so the bulls payroll will be salary cap plus TPE (caruso) plus MLE?

We have no capspace as we chose to operate above the cap.

If we fit Caruso into the TPE our assets remain:

- Full MLE
- Lauri S&T ability
- Valentine S&T ability
- Felicio S&T ability
- Thad Young if we want to trade him

Not sure about MMLE and Bi-Annual Exception and how those things work but I think we still have both?

We have the BAE (I think that's a two year contract?). No to MMLE

Thanks. Figured we'd have BAE. Is there something around $5m annually that we have? Or was that only if we operated with cap space?

[TheSuzerain]

I'd rather have Caruso than Rose.

[sco]

I'd rather have Caruso than Rose.

Especially for how much Rose got.

[PaKii94]

https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/owrs7r/oc_how_advanced_stats_view_alex_caruso/

[dice]

We have no capspace as we chose to operate above the cap.

If we fit Caruso into the TPE our assets remain:

- Full MLE
- Lauri S&T ability
- Valentine S&T ability
- Felicio S&T ability
- Thad Young if we want to trade him

Not sure about MMLE and Bi-Annual Exception and how those things work but I think we still have both?

We have the BAE (I think that's a two year contract?). No to MMLE

Thanks. Figured we'd have BAE. Is there something around $5m annually that we have? Or was that only if we operated with cap space?

i think you're thinking of the taxpayer MLE, which is $5.9 mil. the bucks have that because they are in the lux tax. they do not have the regular $9.5 mil MLE

[TyrusRose2425]

We have the BAE (I think that's a two year contract?). No to MMLE

Thanks. Figured we'd have BAE. Is there something around $5m annually that we have? Or was that only if we operated with cap space?

i think you're thinking of the taxpayer MLE, which is $5.9 mil. the bucks have that because they are in the lux tax. they do not have the regular $9.5 mil MLE

I think there is another MLE that is smaller if you operate with cap space but obviously we wouldn't have that since we chose to operated as if we didn't have cap space

[beeshma]

Caruso is a culture/locker room guy, to go along with Thad.

[Bankshot]

I'd rather have Caruso than Rose.

First thing I have ever agreed with you on Lol

[Michael Jackson]

I'd rather have Caruso than Rose.

I like Caruso. Never thought of him on the Bulls but he is a solid player. Last year Temple looked like our best player early in the season and Caruso is better than him at this point in his career. He might have playoff experience lol and we don't have much of that on our squad...

[Jcool0]

Sam Amick: The Lakers did a very puzzling thing today, and only time will tell if they pay a price for it in their pursuit of an 18th championship. When faced with the prospect of losing Alex Caruso, the 27-year-old guard whose Bird rights they carried and could thus pay whatever they wanted, they didn't put up any free-agency fight en route to him agreeing to a four-year, $37 million deal with Chicago. According to a source with knowledge of the situation, Caruso's camp went back to the Lakers after the Bulls made their offer and were told that there would be no counter.

Considering the many roster holes that remain around the LeBron James/Anthony Davis/Russell Westbrook superstar trio, with only the taxpayer midlevel exception ($5.9 million) and minimum-salary slots at their disposal, it's quite a surprise to hear they didn't make a more spirited push -- or any push, really -- to hold onto Caruso. Forget the part about him being a fan favorite -- that only matters, well, to the fans. But on this team that had such a strong defensive identity, he had grown into a very strong perimeter defender and a valuable rotation player (21 minutes per game in the regular season; 20.1 in the first round against Phoenix).

John Hollinger: It appears the Bulls can execute a sign-and-trade for Alex Caruso that keeps their full midlevel exception available and generates an $8.3 million trade exception for the Lakers. With the exception that is created by the sign-and-trade of Daniel Theis to Houston, the Lakers can sign Caruso for the same amount as Theis' 2021-22 salary plus $100,000, which is exactly what would be needed to generate a four-year, $37 million for him. The only hiccup is getting the Lakers to play ball, but that shouldn't 't be hard since the same sign-and-trade generates a similar sized exception for L.A. ... which can ride the same trade exception carousel to bring in its own player on a similar contract, although NOT via sign-and-trade due to the hard cap.

https://theathletic.com/live-blogs/2021-nba-free-agency-live-updates-news-analysis-trades/Sv5IIlL9fSee