Luka Doncic Just Got His Next Shooter. Cameron Carr’s First Game Made That Obvious.

The Lakers lost their Summer League opener by 32 points Friday. But the guy they traded up to get in the draft looked like he belonged.

Cameron Carr, the No. 24 pick out of Baylor, dropped 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting in his first professional game. Five of those makes came from three-point range. The Lakers lost 104-72 to Golden State, but Carr was the one bright spot in an otherwise forgettable afternoon at the California Classic.

This is why Los Angeles moved up one spot in the draft, sending the 25th pick and cash to the Knicks. They wanted a shooter who could slot in next to Luka Doncic. And on paper, that fit was obvious against the Warriors.

Carr didn’t hesitate from deep. He ran off screens, spotted up in transition, and let it fly with confidence. The Lakers as a team struggled to score — nobody else cracked double figures — but Carr’s movement off the ball created spacing that Doncic would exploit in a real game. That’s the idea, anyway.

He also added two rebounds, an assist and a block. Not spectacular. But for a rookie guard in his first summer league game, the mechanics were clean and the decision-making was sound.

Some context: Summer League is glorified practice. It’s not the regular season, and the Warriors were running out a roster of guys who might not make their final cut. Still, you want to see something. And Carr gave the Lakers something.

The Lakers will play Miami on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. PT, and that game will be on national TV. Carr gets another chance to prove that first impression wasn’t a fluke. If he keeps shooting like this, the Lakers might have found exactly what Doncic needs: a floor spacer who doesn’t need the ball in his hands to be dangerous.

For a team that’s chasing another title with Doncic at the center of everything, finding cheap, young shooting around him is a priority. Carr showed he might be the answer.