JULY 6: The Lakers have officially re-signed Caldwell-Pope, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 1: The Lakers will re-sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Chris Haynes of ESPN reports. The news comes less than an hour after it was revealed that they’ll be inking LeBron James as well. James and Caldwell-Pope are both represented by agent Rich Paul and the Klutch Sports Group.
In a subsequent tweet, Haynes added that the deal for Caldwell-Pope will be a one-year pact worth $12MM. That’s $6MM less than the one-year contract the two parties agreed on last summer.
Caldwell-Pope, 25, joined the Lakers last summer after spending the first four years of his NBA career in Detroit. The 6’5″ shooting guard enjoyed his best season as a shooter last year, setting new career highs in FG% (.426) and 3PT% (.383). He averaged 13.4 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 2.2 APG, and 1.4 SPG in 74 games (all starts).
Caldwell-Pope, who complements his ability to make three-pointers with strong perimeter defense on the other end of the floor, will return to Los Angeles after apparently seeing interest from a number of teams, including the Grizzlies and Clippers.
Adding Caldwell-Pope’s new $12MM deal to James’ max contract significantly reduces the Lakers’ available cap room. With Luol Deng‘s $18MM salary and Julius Randle‘s $12MM+ cap hold on their books, the Lakers are essentially capped out after committing $47MM+ to LeBron and KCP. However, the team could re-open space by renouncing Randle and trading or stretching Deng.
The Lakers could get up to about $23.6MM in cap room by renouncing Randle and stretching Deng. Renouncing Randle and trading Deng for no incoming salary would result in $30MM+ in space. Keeping Randle’s cap hold on the books and stretching Deng would open up about $12MM.
Luke Adams contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Isn’t that most of whats left of cap room
Not overall cap room. Max slot room my bad
I thought the same , but since it’s LAbrons agent , we probably got him at a discount
No discounts. He gets those guys paid well ( see JR Smith and Tristan Thomas).
I would assume he learned from his mistakes and there’s no way magic Johnson gives a flying you know what about LeBron friends. LeBron isn’t in Cleveland anymore.
If he makes a good amount of money I would feel that they most likely have a deal that they can do to get rid of Deng or a trade for Leanord.
He made 20 mil I believe last year on a 1 year inflated deal..
Unless they kawhi, lakers are the 5-6 best team in the West at best. (Gs, hou, port, okc, maybe Utah)
With kawhi, 3rd best.
LBJ/Kouz/Pope/Randall and others? Who would you put ahead other than Hou and GSW?
Portland and okc and maybe Utah
I think your not putting enough faith in LBJ. I think they’re enough talent out there, to build a 50 win team.
I think the 4 years is telling. He’s commiting to the Lakers and I think other guys will follow knowing he’s going to be there for the length of their commitment too. I think Ball is gone tho. Can’t see LBJ wanting to deal with that. Seeing as how LBJ is the defacto point guard and Ball can’t do anything else other than pass or rebound, I don’t think he’s worth keeping given what Ball’s baggage is like.
If others join….my rankings will change….as they sit…5-6th best. They still need to add pieces if they’re going to compete in the west. This isn’t the easy east where he’s played his entire career.
LeBron excelled with kyrie who was/is an extremely talented ball handler. You need more than one guy who can dribble and set guys up, especially in the West.
Minnesota
Kinda low with kawhi they are better than houston. With cousins they can rival gsw.
Houston without ariza and possibly capela.. ha you’re dreaming if you have them ranked on top 4
So as I asked before, and now that they’ve already gotten LeBron and kept KCP, what would it take for them to open room for Cousins? I feel like LeBron makes them a contender by himself, but for them to matchup with GS, they need more depth. KCP was an important part of their defense last year. I feel like KCP, Hart, Ingram, Kuzma isnt a bad wing rotation around LeBron. I could also see them adding a backup PG that can defend.
Not sure what the plan is going forward but I would have checked in to she if we could have signed kJ Redick at sg instead of kcp
KCP & Lebron have same agent, part of the package. There will be more changes in the future. I would not be surprised to see a new coach after this season, Coach Luke will get this season then gone..
Defense is sort of important in the NBA now.
Enter Pope not Reddick.
I think signing KCP takes them out of Cousins’ price range. Kwahi or bust at this point.
Silly Sixers, now who can they get to help them get better?
They are young enough that they grow and mature as a team. They’ll improve, don’t worry.
So they renounce Randle, stretch Deng, sign Cousins or trade for Leonard? Gotta be another move coming.
I see trading for kawhi and signing cousins for a slightly less than max slot.
Next move is dumping Zo & Deng contract
Winner, KCP.
Does a smart GM just trust that Kawhi is healthy after watching him sit over 70 games? The dude may be hurt more than we know if he just sat the whole season? Can anyone give Boogers more than a one yr deal after Achilles surgery, very difficult for any big man to recover from that
KCP signing is like signing JR Smith. Lakers are turning into the Cleveland of the west. They need to move on Leonard to break out of that.
A 1 year deal is hardly a JR deal.
Comparing the players, not their deals.
Pope should make a good James associate, probably like Hart, Lopez and Randle, certainly Frye. Ball and Ingram might be lesser fits. Ball can only contribute as a PG, which sometimes James likes to do, and Ingram plays James’ position. About $13.2mil of trade bait. James is not a PG most of the time.
Disagree. Lebron is a ball dominant player who walks the ball up left side of the floor, he spreads out his guys and does the ”drive & dish” move. As well as high pick n roll try to switch to smaller defender for another drive n dish. He like guys who can hit the 3. In the olden days he could play real, hardcore defense which has disappeared.
LeBron is a point guard all of the time. That’s why they are saying Ball needs to be traded. Ball can’t shoot and LeBron is ball dominant. Ingram won’t be traded unless it’s for Kawhi. Signing Caldwell-Pope takes their cap space down by $12 million. Randle may be the odd man out. Likelihood is Carmelo gets stretched or bought out. He has a home in L.A. too and is good buddies with LeBron.
Ball dominant does not mean PG. Mio’s points on James are irrelevent due to emotion, hate and irrational fear, like James is outside his door right now.
He does not control the ball more than the PG, indeed if you watch the games, the commentators will complain about how he is refusing to take over the game, Mark Jackson especially. Then the halftime panel will show and Jalen Rose will shake his head, say Lebron needs to step up and take over. His whole midseason slump where he lost MVP voters was because he is too passive.
Is paladin west coast?