There’s an alternate universe out there where the 2021-22 Lakers are off to a hot start to the season behind the playmaking of Lonzo Ball, the scoring of DeMar DeRozan and the do-everything defensive mastery of Alex Caruso.
But that’s not the reality we live in, and the team with former Lakers in Ball and Caruso alongside DeRozan — a Compton native who has long wanted to return home — and UCLA’s Zach LaVine continued their strong start to the year by raining three-pointers down on one end and playing excellent, swarming defense on the other, allowing the Chicago Bulls to beat the Lakers 121-103.