When Cameron Carr, a guard who spent this past season with Baylor University, was taken by the New York Knicks with the No. 25 pick in the NBA draft on Tuesday, he was instantly sent to the Los Angeles Lakers. Right away, he went from becoming a member of the world champions and playing in the Big Apple to teaming up with Luka Doncic on the Purple and Gold.
The Lakers have arguably the biggest fan base in the league, and that fan base was undoubtedly built by the presence of legends such as Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kobe Bryant. Bryant, in particular, did so much to define the franchise’s current image and legacy for Millennials and Gen Z.
Carr’s father, Chris, once played in the NBA during the 1990s and early 2000s and came in second during the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest behind Bryant. The younger Carr said that coming to the Lakers represents a childhood dream and mentioned the late Bryant, per Thuc Nhi Nguyen of the Los Angeles Times.
“It’s like a childhood dream. … When you think about basketball, it’s hard not to think about Kobe Bryant.”
Carr may end up giving fans some occasional flashbacks of a young Bryant. During the NBA draft combine, he clocked in with a 42.5-inch vertical leap, and despite standing a modest 6-foot-5, he has a wingspan of roughly 7-foot-1. Those physical qualities helped him throw down quite a few emphatic and electrifying dunks with the Bears.
This past season, he averaged 18.9 points on 49.4% field-goal shooting and 37.4% 3-point shooting, 5.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.3 blocks a game. Only time will tell if he becomes a serviceable athletic 3-and-D player or if he evolves into something substantially more than that at the next level.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Cameron Carr calls playing for Lakers ‘a childhood dream’
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire | USA TODAY Network
