Cameron Carr didn’t hold back after leading the Lakers to a double-overtime win in Summer League on Sunday night. The rookie guard dropped 26 points and grabbed eight boards against Miami, but what he said afterward cut deeper than the stat line.
“Says a lot about their character. I mean, everybody wants to win. Everybody’s competitive, everybody goes out there and plays hard, but that’s all you can ask for. If you’re gonna make a mistake, at least do it going as hard as you can. They stepped up big time, especially defensively. I’m trying to learn as much from them as I can, because they’re big time, they’re big-time on defense, man, on both ends. So, I just got to give them the props,” Carr told reporters, via Thuc Nhi Nguyen.
He’s right. Summer League is usually a showcase for raw talent and sloppy execution. But Carr’s 31-minute performance — 7-of-16 from the field, 4-of-9 from three, 4-of-5 at the line — was more polished than most. He shot with confidence, fought on the glass and showed the kind of two-way awareness that made the Lakers trade for him on draft night.
New York originally took him 24th overall in the 2026 draft, then shipped him to Los Angeles before he ever put on a Knicks jersey. That’s a lot of pressure for a rookie. But Carr isn’t hiding from it.
The defensive side of the ball
Carr admitted he’s still learning how to guard at the NBA level. Summer League is supposed to be an offensive showcase, but he’s treating it like a crash course in defense. The Heat gave him plenty of reps — multiple players attacked him in isolation and off screens — and he held up better than most young guards do.
He also mentioned something that caught people off guard. The last time he played a sudden-death game like this double-overtime thriller was back in middle school. He hit a fadeaway three to win that one. On Sunday, he hit enough big shots to keep the Lakers alive until the final buzzer.
“I just got to give them props,” he said again, deflecting credit to his teammates. Five Lakers finished in double figures: Adou Thiero (13 points, three steals), Anton Watson (12 and 10 boards), Chris Manon (12 points), Zhaire Smith (10 points) and Carr led the group.
The Lakers take on the Spurs next in California. Tip-off is set for July 6 at 7:30 p.m. ET. It’s just Summer League, but Carr is treating every minute like it’s the playoffs. That kind of urgency doesn’t go unnoticed by a coaching staff looking to fill rotation minutes.
The NBA is fast. It’s physical. And Carr is figuring out in real time what that actually means. The good news for Lakers fans: he’s paying attention.
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