Alex Caruso made both of his shot attempts, finishing with four points, one rebound, one steal and three blocked shots in 21 minutes of the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night.
The game was the last of 45 days Caruso had available to spend with the Lakers this season on his two-way contract. He’ll now return to the South Bay Lakers of the G League and remain with them until their playoff run concludes.
Walton outlined the plan last week as the number of days remaining began to dwindle. Caruso, and others signed to two-way contracts, are permitted to re-join their NBA team once the affiliate’s season comes to an end.
The G League season wraps up March 24, and their playoffs begin three days later. The league switched to a four-round, 12-team playoff format for the first time this season.
The teams with the best regular-season record in each division qualifies for the postseason as one of six division winners. The remaining six playoff spots will be filled by the three wild card teams in each conference that have the best regular-season records, other than the division winners.
Division winners will hold the first, second and third seeds, with the wild card teams seeded fourth through sixth. The playoffs begin with three single-elimination rounds before culminating with a best-of-three NBA G League Finals.
South Bay enters Thursday 27-18 and two games behind the Austin Spurs for the best record in the Western Conference. Should they manage a deep playoff run, Caruso conceivably could still join the Lakers for a handful of games to close out the regular season.
Caruso is averaging 2.7 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 13 minutes over 28 games with the Lakers. His best performance came Jan. 28, when the 24-year-old set a career high with 11 points, to go along with four rebounds and five assists.