The Los Angeles Lakers will re-sign wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a 2-year $16 million contract according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. Caldwell-Pope has spent the last two seasons with the Lakers on two different contracts.
The Lakers are expected to bring back Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on a two year, $16 million deal, per league sources.
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) July 6, 2019
Caldwell-Pope, and other free agents like Danny Green, were waiting on the decision of superstar Kawhi Leonard before signing. Caldwell-Pope was likely to return to the Lakers regardless.
The Lakers effectively are picking up the pieces after falling short in getting Leonard, who will go to the crosstown Clippers. Aside from Lebron James, Anthony Davis, and Kyle Kuzma, the Lakers really were barren and forced to wait. Now, Los Angeles can dig into that cap space and put pieces around their two superstar forwards. They have already added another wing in Danny Green, and figure to add several other pieces to the backcourt.
Caldwell-Pope averaged 11.4 points per game on 34.7% shooting from behind the arc. That would be his lowest 3-point shooting percentage since his 2015-2016 season in Detroit. The good news is that this current contract is more cap-friendly than the one that he signed last offseason with the Lakers, which was 1-year at $12 million. And its even BETTER than the one he signed in 2017, which was 1-year for $18 million. Now he will spend the next two seasons with LeBron James and Anthony Davis competing for championships in the loaded Western Conference.
