The Lakers continue to act quickly in moving on to their backup plans in free agency after losing out on Kawhi Leonard. Having already reached a deal to sign Danny Green, the Lakers are also on track to re-sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and JaVale McGee, reports Ramona Shelburne of ESPN (Twitter links).
According to Shelburne, Caldwell-Pope is expected to sign a two-year, $16MM contract to remain in Los Angeles, while the Lakers have agreed to a two-year, $8.2MM deal for McGee.
Caldwell-Pope, who – like teammates LeBron James and Anthony Davis – is represented by agent Rich Paul, has spent the last two seasons with the Lakers, averaging 12.4 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 1.7 APG, and 1.1 SPG with a .428/.365/.824 shooting line in 156 games (28.8 MPG). He’ll join Green as the go-to three-and-D options on a roster that had initially been heavy on frontcourt players.
As for McGee, he enjoyed arguably the best season of his 11-year NBA career for the Lakers in 2018/19, averaging 12.0 PPG, 7.5 RPG, and 2.0 BPG in 75 games, including 62 as the club’s starting center.
With Green set to sign a two-year, $30MM contract, the Lakers have now committed more than half of their $32MM in cap space. ESPN’s Bobby Marks suggests (via Twitter) that L.A. will have about $11.5MM in room left after this flurry of deals, while Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (via Twitter) believes that number could be as high as $14.7MM, depending on how the contracts are structured.
Both of those figures assume that McGee’s contract would come out of the $4.8MM room exception, though the Lakers could theoretically use that exception on another player if McGee is re-signed using cap space.
In addition to signing Green, Caldwell-Pope, and McGee, the Lakers will also add Jared Dudley and Troy Daniels on minimum-salary contracts once their cap room has been exhausted.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Ok. These aren’t bad moves honestly. Not a lot out there after waiting like we did.
Say LA gets to the postseason, JaVale gets played off the floor quickly.
It’s not the worst moves but it was a poor backup plan to have Danny Green, KCP and JaVale McGee be your backup plan to Kawhi.
For what’s left, I’ll take it. Agreed it’s not the best moves but I’m fine with them. I’d like to see them a flyer on Cousins honestly I’d be will take the low salary deal
He probably won’t take the low salary. If he was, he’d have signed already. He wants money so unless a team is offering him something, he’s gonna wait to sign.
I guess so… but this is a flawed team. They are missing some substantial pieces at this point. AD and Lebron with these guys is not better than the clippers. They gave serious work to do.
Have
Plus they’re going to sign Monta Ellis and Amare Stoudemire
But for real, not a Laker fan but they should have bailed on Kawhi and added role players days ago before they went off the board. Need some shooters around Lebron.
im not a big pope fan. but love that they resign mcgee
Same. Would like to see them offer Cousins a minimum contract too honestly. Low risk possibility of a high reward signing if he can come back even close to his old self.
Hahaha Lakers left holding the bag. 12 mill for guys who weren’t getting anything close to that anywhere else.
Have you watched salaries recently? You obviously haven’t because your comments are pretty ignorant.
Yes I have. There’s a reason KCP is still unsigned. Nobody was giving him 8 mill.
Nobody was giving KCP 8 mill get over yourself.
Give cousins the veteran mid level
Rondo, Melo and Stephenson will all sign with Lakers too
base on how the roster is coming along. i dont see where lance would fit. didnt they sign dudley who plays the same spot
I think Tazza was indulging in some black humor.
If it was black humour I’d would have also said Dwight howard and JR Smith
Stephenson is a SG who also plays SF, Dudley was a SF who now plays PF cause he’s slow, old, can play defence and can shoot. Not really the same at all. Stephenson is a ball handler or energy guy that can shot, Dudley is more like PJ Tucker 3 and d style
still dont see where lance fits. green and kcp at SG, dudley and lebron at SF. i heard mcgee might start so that leaves AD and kuz at PF. so again where does lance fit
Lance fits, first of all Kuzma should start over McGee unless your playing a big front court duo such as Griffin and Drummond. Because McGee will just clog the lane for cutters and drivers. Kuzma is a great cutter and he can also splash from deep. But back to your nit pick If Rondo starts with green. The second unit of Carusco KCP Dudly Kuzma and chnadler doesn’t exactly have a ball handler. Stephenson isn’t an amazing player but he can handle and he has energy coming off the bench. He could be that spark plug to gets players excited or he breaks someone’s anckles hits a 3 and plays his air guitar to get the fans and players going. I’d pay him vets min just to soak up DNP so when you do play him get gets it going. Plus his influence on the locker room. He just played a year at the Lakers he knows the players, he knows the staff. If you bring in someone new who knows what effect he could have.
If Kuzma starts, the Lakers are dead in the water. Jokic would bully the heck out of him. Heck, Zion would bully him. Capela, Gobert isn’t even an offensive player but would kill him. If you think Kuzma is starting, you’re crazy.
You obviously start Kuzma and PF and AD at Centre. Jokic, Gobert, Capela those are all Centres bro and mums would match up against Millsap, Bogdanovic, and Tucker in those teams
AD to center….where he was unhappy playing in NO? Is he suddenly just gonna be okay playing there? The reason they’d sign a guy like McGee is because AD doesn’t want to play center. So again, Kuzma probably won’t be starting unless they’re going no point guard.
As has been talked about on several occasions, including extremely recently, just b/c multiple Centers think they’re a PF even when they’re better at Center, doesnt mean the team that has them wont play them at the position they’re best at. Davis is a 5. He can still see time at the 4 in certain lineups and certain matchups, but primarily, in today’s NBA, he is a 5
And you don’t get politics and influence.
The “today’s NBA” positioning is hooey and takes a backseat to many kinds of forces.
So they signed Cousins now…still think AD was playing center?
Yes
what chandler have to do with anything he a free agent and what caruso was only the PG for the south bay lakers. caruso is and always will be a play maker . so again i dont see where lance fits unless dudley more 3rd string.
Lol, melo would be the cherry on top for the ghost chaser.
Again!– Pope is overpaid, McGee underpaid. Are they moving too fast? I mean okay for McGee, but Pope let them down already. Rich Paul has too much power.
Lakers should get Jamychal Green, the Clip’s only 4.
Possible correction they drafted Kabengele, a 5 who could play the 4. So nevermind J.Green though he’s not bad.
Spending $8 on Pope really reduces possibilities. Dumb. He’s a backup anyway because of Danny Green. Can Pelinka not stand up to Rich Paul?
And Korver to get too, maybe Lance.
Still no answer to if they could call off the Wagner-Bonga trade. It would not affect anything else.
Not positive but I think they Lakers can use Pope’s early bird rights and go over the cap to resign him. This would have to be done after they use up their cap space. Again, I’m not sure if they have his early bird rights.
They have his Early Bird rights, but his cap hold is $15.6MM, so it makes more sense to just sign him into cap room, since his new deal will be much smaller than his hold.
Why would AD agree to waive his trade kicker now?
ESPN reported last night that Davis can’t back out of his original commitment to waive the kicker
If King James and Anthony Davis really want to win it all. Rework your contracts. Longer or rear loaded. The Lakers can then use the money to sign Russell Westbrook. No brainer.