The Lakers rookie dropped a game-high 23 points on the Clippers and keeps giving the coaching staff reasons to carve out real minutes for him this fall.
The Los Angeles Lakers keep finding reasons to feel good about trading up in June, and Tuesday night handed them another one.
Cameron Carr came back from a right thumb contusion and dropped a game-high 23 points on the Los Angeles Clippers in a 99-85 Summer League win, hitting three of his ten tries from deep and adding a block over 29 minutes.
The victory kept the Lakers perfect at 3-0 in Las Vegas after a 2-1 showing at the California Classic, and no player has had more to do with that run than the rookie out of Baylor.
Built on Buckets
Through five appearances Carr is averaging 18.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and a block in about 25 minutes a night while shooting 44.9 percent from the floor and 36.1 percent from three on more than seven attempts per game.
He opened the summer with 19 points and five threes against the Warriors, poured in 26 during a double overtime win over the Heat, then went for 18 against the Thunder before the thumb kept him out of the Dallas game.
The No. 24 pick already looks like one of the steals of his class, and the full breakdown of everything the Lakers lost and signed this offseason shows why his timing could hardly be better.
The Rookie Knows What Comes Next
"I gotta be better. I gotta be a lot better defensively," Carr said after the summer opener.
"I can get as many deflections as I want, but if you give up a straight line drive, you still can't help anybody."
The self awareness is encouraging, because the offense already travels, and his 7-foot-1 wingspan and 42-inch vertical give him a real foundation on the other end.
Broadcasters in Las Vegas have compared his frame and shooting stroke to Mikal Bridges, and if the defense catches up to the tools, he becomes exactly the type of wing JJ Redick can trust in games with stakes.
The Minutes Are There for the Taking
The opportunity in front of him is real, because Los Angeles went 53-29 last season, got swept by Oklahoma City in the second round, then watched LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard all leave this summer.
The rebuilt group runs through Luka Doncic, who led the league in scoring at 33.5 points per game, and Austin Reaves, who signed a four-year, $185 million max deal to stay.
Beyond those two the wing picture stays unsettled, with the front office signing Ziaire Williams while it keeps working on the one move still left to make for Jonathan Kuminga.
The Clippers, who finished 42-40 and lost a play-in game to Golden State, just watched the crosstown rookie carve them up.
Carr still has to prove it against real NBA rotations in October, and his 175-pound frame will get tested nightly.
He keeps piling up big scoring nights anyway, and minutes tend to find shooters with length who run the floor.
The Lakers drafted him to grow into a role, but this summer suggests the role might arrive ahead of schedule.
