adou thiero

LAS VEGAS — The door opened for Arthur Kaluma to show his worth for the Lakers in the NBA Summer League on Saturday night.

He did so in a big way.

Kaluma had 34 points and five rebounds during the Lakers’ 91-70 win over the Dallas Mavericks at the Thomas & Mack Center.

He was 11 for 16 from the field and six for 10 from three-point range.

With Lakers rookie guard Cameron Carr unable to play because of a right thumb contusion, Kaluma took over the scoring role. Carr, the 24th pick in the NBA draft, is averaging 17 points per game.

“Cam doesn’t play tonight, so he gets a little bit more minutes, gets a couple more touches,” said Lakers Summer League coach Ty Abbott about Kaluma. “But he’s done a really good job of making the most of it when he doesn’t have actions run for him. So the way that he’s been able to stay ready, find windows for himself has kept him in a rhythm. So, on a night like tonight, when we can run some actions for him, he knocks them down and just plays out of his mind. It was great.”

Kaluma said he was “a little nervous” but his three-point shooting said otherwise.

“When [teammate] Jon Elmore came down and he pitched it back to me for a three … I just knew when it came off my hand it was cash,” Kaluma said. “So I said, ‘Yeah, I’m hot.’ It went on from there.”

Late in the fourth quarter, Kaluma lined up a three-pointer, setting his feet and scoring from 29 feet out. He flashed three fingers and smiled. His teammates on the bench stood and cheered, as did the fans.

“We have such a great group of guys this year at Summer League and going through this it’s hard to get that camaraderie with a group,” Kaluma said. “But I feel like everybody wants to see everybody succeed and I felt that tonight. I’m not going to lie to you. They tell me to shoot the ball. I passed up a couple of shots and they were mad at me the other day.”

Kaluma played for the South Bay Lakers in the G League last season. He averaged 14.6 points per game, 4.9 rebounds and shot 55% from the field, 37% from three-point range.

“The G can get grimey, you know what I’m saying? It’s a time where everybody is trying to fight for a position and there is a certain hunger that you have to have in order to be successful in the G,” Kaluma said. “And I feel like that drive that I had my first year in it pushed me into this summer to really get better and work on my game and come here and have the opportunity to perform.”

Kaluma wasn’t alone in helping the Lakers improve to 2-0 in Summer League play.

Adou Thiero ran the court, took a lob pass from Chris Mañon and threw down a two-handed dunk. He had another solid outing with 15 points and four rebounds. He shot just four for 12 from the field, but was a plus-15.

But the night belonged to Kaluma.

“I pride myself on the defensive end,” he said. “I know I got hot offensively, but the shot was just falling today, you know what I’m saying? My game is three-and-D. I lock-up on defense and I know I can hit open shots. I just got hot today and I’m not going to try to let it get to my head.”

LAS VEGAS — The highlight dunk was proof that Adou Thiero is just fine. Thiero delivered a breakaway windmill dunk in the second quarter Friday that brought cheers from the fans, a moment in which the second-year Lakers forward displayed his athleticism.

Thiero’s confidence seemed to grow from that point on, his play for the Lakers during their Las Vegas Summer League opener at the Thomas & Mack Center a sign of his development.

He ran the floor and caught a lob for a dunk. He sprinted back on defense and blocked a shot. He finished the third quarter with a last-second shot off the backboard, a basket that gave the Lakers an 86-66 lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Thiero came back in the game in the fourth quarter and threw down another lob dunk.

Thiero completed his night with 20 points during the Lakers’ 96-84 win.

He played an all-around game, collecting four rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks with zero turnovers in 30 minutes. He was eight for 14 from the field. He missed all five of his three-pointers, but Thiero finished the game plus-13.

“I feel like I was capable of doing this,” Thiero said. “It’s not different from things I was doing in the G League last year. I feel like I got real comfortable in the G League, how to play and everything and just took that break and still trying to get back to healthy and everything and finally getting to go out and play. I feel like I sped myself up a little bit and now I’m slowing down and letting the game come to me.”

Thiero played after missing the Lakers’ final game at the California Classic in San Francisco because of a right wrist injury.

He looked far more in control and at ease than he did in San Francisco.

“He just wasn’t rushed tonight,” Lakers summer league coach Ty Abbott said. “He took what was in front of him. He attacked matchups. He understood that there was going to be some paint swarming. Those guys are going to try to flood and meet him at the rim and he made the right pass. And then when he started doing that, it started to open up for him and he was able to finish at the rim.”

Thiero was asked to critique his windmill dunk, which was his first highlight of the game and one that had fans cheering.

But Thiero was not impressed.

“The windmill was nice, but it wasn’t my best windmill,” Thiero said. “I’d probably say that was one of my worst windmills. I didn’t have my footing. I went back and watched it on video and I didn’t really like it.”

Thiero believed his chemistry with rookie Cameron Carr and his defense stood out. He also said Lakers coach JJ Redick had conversations with him about being a better defender.

“Just trying to go out there and cause havoc,” Thiero said. “JJ, he says that the things he wants, you know, we need a point-of-attack, on-ball defender and everything. So, just trying to go out there and be that, try and get reps in defending and then, offensively, just trying to play basketball, just trying to make the game more simple for myself.”

Carr also played against the Thunder after being limited by a bothersome toenail in his last game. He had another solid game with 18 points on seven-for-13 shooting.

While veterans jockey for new contracts during free agency, young players are getting their tryout opportunities with NBA summer league games beginning this week.

First-round draft pick Cameron Carr and second-year forward Adou Thiero highlight the Lakers summer league roster that was announced Wednesday. The 16-man team will be coached by Lakers assistant coach Ty Abbott and begin summer league play Friday against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center.

The Lakers also face the Miami Heat (July 5, 1:30 p.m.) and San Antonio Spurs (July 6, 4:30 p.m.) in the California Classic before playing in the Las Vegas summer league from July 9-19. The Lakers play Oklahoma City (July 10), Dallas (July 11), the Clippers (July 14) and Chicago (July 16) in Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center.

The Lakers traded up in the draft to get Carr, a 6-foot-5 guard out of Baylor, with the 24th overall pick. He will make his unofficial NBA debut, along with former Indiana State and Saint Louis star Robbie Avila. The 6-10 center became a bespectacled college basketball cult hero known affectionately as “Cream Abdul Jabbar” while leading Indiana State to the NIT championship game in 2024. He transferred to Saint Louis, where he was named Atlantic-10 player of the year as a senior when the Billikens won a school-record 29 wins.

Although he is entering his second season with the Lakers, Thiero will be playing his first summer league games. Persistent knee injuries hampered his rookie season. The athletic 6-7 forward averaged 1.9 points and 1.1 rebounds in 25 appearances last season. He said after the Lakers were eliminated from the playoffs that he wanted to improve on his three-point shooting during his second year. He attempted only five three-pointers during his rookie season, regular season and playoffs, making one.

Lakers summer league roster

Robbie Avila, C, 6-10, 240
Cameron Carr, G, 6-5, 190
Jon Elmore, G, 6-3, 190
Luke Goode, F, 6-7, 210
William Hickey, G, 6-4, 203
Arthur Kaluma, F, 6-7, 225
William Kyle III, C, 6-9, 230
Chris Mañon, G, 6-4, 212
Robert McCray V, G, 6-4, 188
AK Okereke, F, 6-7, 245
Chase Ross, G, 6-5, 210
Zhaire Smith, G, 6-4, 205
Peter Suder, G, 6-5, 215
Adou Thiero, F, 6-7, 234
Anton Watson, F, 6-8, 225
Jacari White, G, 6-3, 180