The Los Angeles Lakers have invested heavily in revamping their defense. They gave four-year deals to interior anchor Walker Kessler and perimeter specialist Quentin Grimes, and gave one-year contracts to defensive-minded reserves such as Kevon Looney, Matisse Thybulle, and Ziaire Williams.
Though the new pieces should all contribute to an improved Lakers defense, it's rookie Cameron Carr whose defensive playmaking ability can unlock the team's full potential.
Grimes is an excellent on-ball defender who ranked in the 87th percentile in perimeter isolation defense in 2025-26, per Basketball Index. Kessler is an elite interior anchor who ranked in the 99th percentile in rim protection in 2024-25, which was his last healthy season.
Looney is a tremendous rebounder and a competitive rim protector himself, while Thybulle and Williams are athletic wing defenders who can make plays on the ball.
Thybulle may actually be the best bet for the role Carr projects to be able to fill having averaged 2.8 steals and 1.4 blocks across seven NBA seasons. In saying that, he's appeared in just 45 games over the past two seasons.
Given Thybulle's injury history, it's Carr who looks the part of the defensive playmaker who can offer the change of pace that the Lakers need to cause chaos on defense.
Cameron Carr can cause chaos on defense when Lakers are locked in
With Kessler anchoring the interior and Grimes taking on teams' best perimeter scorers, the task of maintaining the optimal formation becomes easier to achieve. Luka Doncic has proven adept at playing the passing lanes, and Austin Reaves is an excellent off-ball defender who can chase opponents around screens and disrupt shooters.
Though Doncic's ability to force turnovers is a plus, the Lakers need a wing who can expend more energy on the defensive end of the floor and thus help position the offensive hub to balance his contributions.
Carr is an excellent candidate to do exactly that. He has elite physical attributes for a wing at 6'5" with a 7'0.75" wingspan, a 42.5" max vertical leap, and elite agility. He put those gifts to use in college, where he averaged 1.6 blocks and 1.0 steals per 40 minutes in 2025-26.
Beyond the numbers, Carr was the prototypical help defender in the way he could appear out of nowhere to make plays on the ball when all hope appeared to be lost.
That ability could go a long way toward helping to prevent teams from capitalizing when Kessler is tasked with defending out in space. It could also enable Grimes to pinpoint his focus on his on-ball assignments and Reaves to focus more intently on contesting shots than cheating off of his man.
Carr must also begin to tap into his on-ball potential to maximize his impact, but his work as a help defender could prove invaluable.
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