After two garbage-time appearances, Cameron Carr received his first rotation minutes on Monday. It was a relatively brief seven minutes split across the two halves, but it was also still enough time for him to get his first NBA bucket.
In the second quarter, Luka Dončić got on the end of a loose ball and fed it to Carr for a fastbreak dunk and his the first basket of his career.
A lot transpired over the next two quarters as the Lakers
grinded out a win over the Hawks for their second straight victory. But once the final buzzer hit, Luka Dončić made sure to track down the game ball to give to his rookie.
“Obviously, you always want to remember your first bucket and get that ball,” Luka said after the game. “You want to remember it. So, it was kind of important for me to grab it.”
The topic led to plenty of conversation in the locker room postgame, ranging from if players remembered their first bucket to whether they had teammates chase down the basketball after the game as well.
At the risk of sounding cliché, this team feels different than most. There is a togetherness and bond that clearly got kickstarted with the trip to Slovenia, but it’s evident in moments like this.
Not only are they looking out for each other in chasing down the game ball after the contest, but they’re making jokes in the locker room about it postgame. What a fun season this already has been with much more to come.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
