Alex Caruso follows in the footsteps of great Lakers “meme” players of the past. The franchise’s history is replete with players who were only admired in a mocking or sarcastic manner; often the player is white (go figure). Caruso is only the latest. Here’s just a sample from the last ten seasons:
2009-2010: Didier Ilunga-Mbenga
2010-2011: Sasha Vujacic
2011-2012: Andrew Goudelock
2012-2013: Robert Sacre
2013-2014: Ryan Kelly (or Robert Sacre again)
2014-2015: Jabari Brown (or Robert Sacre again)
2015-2016: Roy Hibbert (or Robert Sacre again)
2016-2017: Marcelo Huertas
2017-2018: Andre Ingram
2018-2019: LeBron James
2019-2020: Alex Caruso
You can make a list like this for every team, but I don’t think any fanbase piles as much ironic praise on their scrubby role-players are the Lakers’ fanbase does. And I doubt that many teams have lists that are as memey as this one. Probably because Robert Sacre is, like, the king of meme players.