While Alex Caruso received a four-year, $37 million offer from the Chicago Bulls in free agency, he was willing to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers on a two-year, $20 million deal. Caruso's deal with the Bulls was only guaranteed for $30 million.

The Lakers, however, stayed at their offer of $21 million over three years. 

Caruso was the Lakers' first call in free agency, but they never budged from their initial offer. 

“No dollars and cents higher than that ever came back,” Caruso said. “There’s no counters. It was just, I think, that was kind of all they had. And at that point, it was like, okay, I have to make an executive decision based on real life here.”

The Lakers eventually signed Talen Horton-Tucker to a three-year, $31 million deal.