Lakers rookie takes major step toward debut after frustrating injury setback

Cameron Carr took a step in the right direction with his recovery from a strained right oblique. The Lakers rookie practiced with the franchise’s G League affiliate, the Coachella Valley Lakers, on Tuesday before being recalled to the NBA team.Carr has been sidelined since the first week of the preseason because of the injury, sitting out of the last three exhibitions and first four regular season games, including Tuesday’s matchup against the Trail Blazers on Tuesday. Coach JJ Redick responded “still working through that” when asked if there was an update on when Carr could make his regular season debut. “He was able to do a full practice,” Redick said.“Five games in seven nights, we’re not going to be able to practice this week, and wanted to be cognizant of his ramp up and what he needed to do to be back in our lineup.”Tuesday was the first night of a back-to-back set for the Lakers, who’ll play the Clippers on Wednesday at Intuit Dome.They’ll play the Warriors in San Francisco on Friday before another back-to-back against the Raptors (Sunday) and Heat (Monday) in Los Angeles.The Lakers’ practice opportunities are limited over the next couple of weeks with the amount of games through early November, leading to them using their G League affiliate to get No.

24 pick in June’s NBA draft on-court work.Carr had a brilliant preseason debut, scoring 19 points in the Oct.5 win over the Kings before playing 15 minutes in the Oct.

6 loss to the Warriors.“We needed him to be able to get through a full practice,” Redick said.“So that’s probably a very important step.

Obviously, he was able to do some level of conditioning because it was an upper body injury.But want to make sure he’s able to take hits and be in shape.”...