Arthur Kaluma walked into the Thomas & Mack Center with a little bit of nervous energy and left with the best scoring performance of the entire NBA Summer League weekend. The undrafted forward dropped 34 points on the Dallas Mavericks Saturday, leading the Los Angeles Lakers to a 91-70 blowout win.
Kaluma shot 11-of-16 from the floor and 6-of-10 from three. He grabbed five boards and buried a 29-foot dagger late in the fourth quarter that had the Lakers bench losing their minds. After the game, he admitted he felt nervous before tip. The stat sheet says otherwise.
This wasn’t a fluke. The night before, Kaluma put up 18 points in just 16 minutes against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He hit every shot he took. All five field goals. All five free throws. Four rebounds. He’s scored in double figures every time he’s stepped on the court in Las Vegas.
Opportunity Knocks With Carr Sidelined
The Lakers were without rookie guard Cameron Carr, their first-round pick in the 2026 draft, who sat out with a bruised right thumb. Carr had been averaging 17 points a game through the early portion of Summer League, so that’s real production missing from the lineup. Kaluma filled the gap and then some.
What makes this run interesting is where Kaluma came from. He spent last season with the South Bay Lakers in the G League after going undrafted. There, he averaged 14.6 points and 4.9 rebounds, shooting 55% from the field and 37% from deep. Scouts questioned his offensive game during the pre-draft process. His recent performances have started to answer those questions with a confident shooting stroke and the kind of defensive versatility that’s always been there.
The Lakers went to 2-0 in Las Vegas with the win and pushed their overall Summer League winning streak to four games. They led by just three at halftime before running away in the third and fourth quarters.
Adou Thiero added 15 points and four boards, though he shot 4-of-12 from the field. Chris Manon put up 10 points and eight rebounds. Peter Suder scored 14 in 17 minutes on 5-of-8 shooting. Jon Elmore stuffed the stat sheet with six points, four rebounds, five assists and three steals. Zhaire Smith chipped in six points, three dimes and two steals.
Here’s the thing about Kaluma’s situation: the Lakers already have all three two-way roster spots filled by Manon, AK Okereke and Suder. Kaluma is on an Exhibit 10 deal heading into his second professional season. A roster move would have to happen for him to land a two-way contract. But after back-to-back standout games, he’s making it hard for the front office to ignore him.
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