Alex Caruso candidly discusses LeBron James’ role in his NBA rise: “His love gave me confidence”

Former Los Angeles Lakers player Alex Caruso has showered praise on LeBron James. Caruso played for the Lakers from 2017-18 to 2020-21, and observed James from close quarters. The American said James’ love gave him a lot of confidence at the top level.

But Caruso left the Lakers in free agency after the Bulls offered him a four-year, $37 million deal, more than what the Lakers were willing to pay.

Meanwhile, the Lakers won their last championship in 2020 season and Caruso averaged 6.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 6 games in the 2020 NBA Finals.

“LeBron James’ love gave me confidence. Coming from someone of that stature … that means a lot. It gave me the confidence in myself to believe that what I was doing was right. All I ever wanted was to be out there at the end of the game and have a chance to win,” said Caruso on TexAgs Radio.

On the other hand, James averaged 14.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 8.5 assists on 66% shooting in the Olympics and thus played an instrumental role in taking the USA team to glory. This was the USA’s fifth consecutive gold medal at the Games.

LeBron James was named Olympic MVP after scoring 14 points with six rebounds and 10 assists in the summit clash against France, which the Americans won by 98-87.

Meanwhile, Caruso played the last two seasons for the Chicago Bulls and he will now ply his trade for the Oklahoma City Thunder after a trade. In the previous season of 2023-24, Caruso averaged 10.1 points in 71 games he played for the Bulls.