Incoming third-year man Alex Caruso was one of the bright spots for the Los Angeles Lakers last season in what was a rather forgettable campaign for the club. That was his second year with L.A., after he had signed a two-way deal with the club a couple of years ago.

Recently, the 25-year-old guard looked back on that very same deal, which as it turns out, would prove to be a career-defining and life-changing development for himself.

“The two-way deal is one of the best things that has happened to me in my basketball career,” Caruso said, via Brian Kalbrowsky of HoopsHype. “The idea behind it when it first started was to give guys experience of the NBA game and then also give them the capability of going down to the G League and fine-tuning stuff and that’s exactly what I did. I needed to work on being a little more aggressive, work off the ball and run the team a little bit more. So to be able to have the G League and also have the opportunity to just get used to the speed of the NBA game. I learned all the differences in the dynamics of NBA basketball, which is a ton compared to anything I’d ever played.”

The two-way deal was initiated by the league some years ago, and as Caruso described, many players have indeed benefited from this particular arrangement.

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Caruso went on to say that while it was indeed a challenging set-up, he regrets nothing. As a matter of fact, he is very much grateful for having been able to gone through that learning experience.

“Being able to go back-and-forth was a lot of work and it was really tough and it was a lot of long road trips and travel,” he said. “But it was really beneficial for me to have that opportunity. I tried to be as present as possible and play really hard. That’s something that I’ve done my whole career. I’ve patterned my game off of it and it’s worked out for me really well.”

Last season, Caruso proved to be a significant player for the Lakers' bench, averaging 9.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.4 blocks in 21.2 minutes of play.