Exclusive: Cameron Carr ready to do whatever Lakers need as he prepares for life in NBA

LAS VEGAS — With the 24th pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers selected Cameron Carr from Baylor University. The six-foot-five guard had a monster junior season, averaging 18.9 points, 5.8 reboundfs, 2.6 assists, and 1.3 blocks per game in 34 appearances per game.

Like the other Cameron taken in the NBA Draft, Carr is no stranger to the NBA. Cameron’s father, Chris Carr, played six seasons in the NBA playing for the Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Jersey Nets, Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls, and Boston Celtics.

And while Cameron Carr was born in 2004, three years after his father retired from the NBA, he did have a good teacher to help him prepare for this life. And yet, nothing prepares someone better than experience.

“This last month and a half have been great!” Carr told ClutchPoints in an exclusive interview. “It’s been a lot going on. I’ve been on the move. Been around a bunch of different people, met a lot of different people, but mostly just on the move.

“It’s a great moment. My pops played before me and stuff in the NBA, so it’s like he just gets to just enjoy these moments with his son. I mean, they’re just happy for me. That’s really all I can put on it for real.”

To help incoming rookies prepare for everything that life in the league will throw at them, the NBA and NBPA (National Basketball Players Association) hosts a series of annual workshops throughout the offseason called the Rookie Transition Program.

This year’s rookie class took part in their first seminar before the start of NBA Summer League and will take part in a few more additional sessions sometime in the middle of August. The initial session gave players an introduction a multitude of topics, including building relationships with coaches and referees as well as look into how prevalent of an issue gambling can be in every day life.

Cameron Carr spoke exclusively with ClutchPoints after the session to break down his experience at NBA Summer League, but also to discuss what it was like to take part in the league’s Rookie Transition Program.

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Tomer Azarly: You obviously have the backing of an NBA family, but this is a big lifestyle change for you. What did you kind of take away from that first day of the Rookie Transition Program?

Cameron Carr: Yeah, I think some of that stuff is very, very much necessary. Like, I mean, not everybody has an NBA background, especially like their father. So I feel like it’s a good outlet for people and it helps us like come together more.

Tomer Azarly: You guys are set to receive and deal with life-changing amounts of money. What’s something you learned from that about how to approach handling that?

Cameron Carr: Save, save, save. Be greedy when it comes to your money. Save your money. And so, financially, I have a really good financial team around me. And so, try to be ahead of it so then I can look back 10 years from now and be like, you know what, I’m glad I did that or I’m glad I made this move.

Tomer Azarly: What did you learn about being a businessman and a brand, about presenting yourself and everything that comes with that?

Cameron Carr: Yeah, I’d probably say the importance of situations, just knowing that there’s eyes on me, people watching me and I have to carry myself in a respectful tone and how I want the younger generation to view me.

Tomer Azarly: Is there anything that you really wanted to learn from the Rookie Transition Program when you entered it, maybe something you didn’t know about?

Cameron Carr: Honestly, they kind of hit it all on the head. Not really, no. They’ve kind of crossed every box for me.

Tomer Azarly: What was the most interesting thing that you really wanted to learn coming into that thing?

Cameron Carr: Ooh, I’m going to say… I mean, we went to this most recent one here at the Summer League, they had us do like walk around with the tablets. That was pretty cool. They had us do the referee section. They got to let us meet the refs and they talked to us about calls and not getting calls. So I thought it was pretty cool.

Cameron Carr starred for Los Angeles!

26 PTS
8 REB
4 3PM@Lakers secure the victory in sudden death OT at the California Classic pic.twitter.com/wuRIkY8PD7

— NBA (@NBA) July 5, 2026

Tomer Azarly: Walk me through that time with the tablets. What was that?

Cameron Carr: Yeah, it was like basically just like it keeps you participating in each station. It helps you to learn about the NBA, how it’s ran, how the referees referee games, how coaches coach and everything. I mean, then you go to the business side, it teaches you about like what’s the more important, a better team or like a loyal fan base, like it’s stuff like that.

Tomer Azarly: Referees are obviously a big part of this game. What did you learn about working together with them?

Cameron Carr: I’d probably say that one, I mean, it’s basketball. It’s very unpredictable. You never know what’s going to happen. You can’t script it out before it happens. But I feel like just understanding them, giving them the space to explain why the call was the way it was. And then I’m also just hearing you out. Not everything is an argument. Sometimes, you’ve just got to ask, ‘what should I do there?’ And learn from it.

Tomer Azarly: What about coaches and building relationships with them?

Cameron Carr: Man, honestly, just like coaches are going to be different. They’re different types of people. They’re unique just like the players. And so it was it was like three. There’s three players and three-point plays and five-point plays. It was on the basketball court.

Tomer Azarly: Gambling has become very prevalent in sports, and it’s kind of unavoidable. I know that’s something that they went over with you guys, and I’m sure will continue to. What was your biggest takeaway from that?

Cameron Carr: Yeah, stay away from it. Don’t touch it. I mean, that’s the biggest thing I took away from it. Just have nothing to do with it. Keep it very, very simple, which is that’s an ‘X.’ There’s an ‘X’ over that.

Tomer Azarly: You guys had Chris Bosh and some other vets in attendance to give you guys advice. What did you take away from the former players?

Cameron Carr: Yeah I feel like a lot of them are kind of more about direction. I feel like a lot of them have been where we all want to go, especially right now. They just keep emphasizing to enjoy this moment. Like, try not to stress about it, just enjoy it, because you get to do this every day.

Tomer Azarly: Did you watch Chris Bosh at all growing up? Were you at all starstruck?

Cameron Carr: I’m not gonna lie, sometimes when I see these NBA guys, like I said, my pops was in the league and so, I’ve been there and I got that a lot. I don’t get star struck anymore. It’s just like, ‘oh man, that’s my guy.’

Tomer Azarly: Living in a place like L.A., that’s not cheap. What did you learn about just what it’ll take to build a life for yourself within the means in a city with a lot of distractions?

Cameron Carr: Man, I gotta be financially smart, don’t get caught up in outside of distractions and just take care of what I take care of and that’s everything on the court.

Tomer Azarly: We saw you show some emotions on the court during Summer League. It seems like you have a good mix of being humble and confident simultaneously. When did that develop?

Cameron Carr: I feel like, I don’t know, my pops always told me a quote. I struggled with confidence pretty badly at school because I was skinny, I wasn’t the biggest or the strongest. And so, he would just see me and tell me, ‘man, if you don’t have confidence in yourself, then who else is going to have confidence in you?’ And I was like, ‘you’re right.’ And so he just put it to me that it shouldn’t be wavered. My confidence should never change. Like yesterday, I shot a 30-footer that went over to the other side of the backboard and then I turned around, came back and hit a three and it’s like that. It’s just, you gotta forget about whatever just happened. Negative, positive, just short term memory and just on to the next.

Tomer Azarly: What did you get out of this whole Las Vegas experience? Did you feel like you got what you wanted out of it?

Cameron Carr: Yeah, I mean, getting to learn, getting to be around everybody and honestly, just a slow introduction to the team that I’m about to be stepping with and so, it’s been good. The whole experience was good.

Tomer Azarly: What are your thoughts on being a Laker? I mean, that’s a storied franchise, probably the most storied in basketball. Has it sunk in for you yet?

Cameron Carr: Man, this reality hasn’t set in yet, it’s probably going to take a little bit. But when it hits me like, man, I play for the LA Lakers. But, I mean, of course, exciting. It’s a rich tradition, a team and players that came before me, so all I can do is act for them, right?

Tomer Azarly: This is a franchise that’s hungry to win, that’s always trying to win. Do you feel like you can contribute to that right away?

Cameron Carr: I’ll do whatever it takes to win. I wouldn’t necessarily put a stamp on if I’m ready or if I’m not ready. Whatever they need to do to help the team win, I’m willing to do it, so.

Tomer Azarly: Who’s in kind of your inner circle? Who’s your group that you rely on, that you can go to everything about? Just talk and get advice from.

Cameron Carr: I’d probably say both my parents and my best friends. That’s my close circle, they’re like good outlets for me to just I can just tell them, and then they can be very, very honest with me. They almost keep me humble. They probably tell me what I don’t want to hear most of the time.

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