The Los Angeles Lakers kicked off their annual Summer League slate on Friday night, taking on the Golden State Warriors in the California Classic at Chase Center.
The Lakers’ roster features some fun players this summer, including first-round draft pick Cameron Carr and Adou Thiero, but their lack of chemistry was apparent while the Warriors looked like a team that has been playing together for a while in an easy 104-72 victory.
Carr clearly was not nervous in his first NBA action as he filled it up from deep early with a pair of triples. The same could be said for Warriors first-round pick Yaxel Lendeborg, who made his first three 3-pointers and then a layup.
L.A. found itself trailing 28-23 at the end of the first as the hot shooting of Lendeborg and the Warriors kept up.
With Lendeborg and Will Richard each hitting their first four triples, the Lakers had no answers for the Warriors on the defensive end. And outside of Carr, L.A. couldn’t get much going offensively with a clear playmaking deficiency on the roster.
Chris Mañon, who recently re-signed with the team on a two-way contract, beat the halftime buzzer with a floater, but the Lakers still went into the halftime locker room trailing 57-33.
The second half was more of the same as the Lakers’ clear playmaking deficiency hurt them on the offensive end while the Warriors continued to take and make easy shots. While the Lakers certainly struggled on defense, Golden State’s shooting display was impressive.
Thiero tried to get going offensively, but he was wild on some of his drives and wasn’t able to finish efficiently.
Despite a 9-0 run for the Lakers early in the fourth quarter, they never really made much of a dent in their massive deficit.
Carr was arguably the lone bright spot for L.A. in the loss as he led his team with 19 points, two rebounds and one assist on 7-of-15 shooting and 5-of-11 from deep. Thiero had a disappointing Summer League debut, scoring nine points on 3-of-10 shooting to go along with four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Lakers California Classic schedule & TV info
Sunday, July 5: Heat at 1:30 p.m. PT on TBD
Monday, July 6: Spurs at 4:30 p.m. on TBD
Lakers Las Vegas Summer League schedule & TV info
Friday, July 10: Thunder at 7 p.m. PT on Amazon Prime
Saturday, July 11: Mavericks at 7 p.m. PT on ESPN
Tuesday, July 14: Clippers at 7 p.m. on Amazon Prime
Thursday, July 16: Bulls at 3 p.m. on Amazon Prime
Fifth game: TBD
If you love our reporting, choose LakersNation.com as a preferred source on Google.
