Lakers sign Caldwell-Pope
By Tadi Abedje
The Los Angeles Lakers and free agent Kentavious Caldwell have agreed on a one year, 18 million dollar contract. The four year guard out of the University of Georgia was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in 2013 and averaged 13.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game last season.
Originally, he was a restricted free agent, meaning that if he signed an offer sheet with another team, the Pistons would have had three days to match it in order to keep him. But because they traded for Avery Bradley, who is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, they rescinded Caldwell-Pope’s qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent.
In the short term, this is a good deal for the Lakers because it preserves their cap space in the summer of 2018 and he can test the market in that year. They plan to go after LeBron James (who shares the same agent as Caldwell-Pope in Rich Paul), Paul George, and Russell Westbrook.
This was the first notable free agent signing of the Magic Johnson era as they went hard after him with their $16.5 million in remaining cap space to spend this summer. They traded for the talented big man in Brook Lopez that they hope can bring scoring in the post and from the perimeter.
He said in an interview to Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press in February that “I gotta just go out and prove myself and just show like what I can do on the court, be a great teammate, give great energy each and every night and let them decide if I’m a max player or not."
Caldwell-Pope is a two-way player that can score off the ball and can defend on the perimeter. He will benefit from playing with a pass-first point guard in Lonzo Ball because he will get clean looks at the basket. He will also play with other young talented players in Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, and Larry Nance Jr.
He has a career averages in 11.7 points, 3 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.2 steals, and 33.4 percent shooting from three point range.
Also, the Lakers met with free agent point guard Rajon Rondo. They hope to sign the four time All-Star and the 2008 NBA Champion with the Boston Celtics so that he can mentor Ball on how to play the point guard position. He was waived by the Chicago Bulls so that they can start to rebuild their roster. The 31 year old had played with the Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings and the Bulls.