Los Angeles Lakers need to take advantage of market, sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

The Los Angeles Lakers need to take advantage of the market and get aggressive in pursuing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

The Los Angeles Lakers have been quiet thus far in free agency. All of their roster movement came prior to and during the 2017 NBA Draft. Since then, they haven’t made any moves, but it is not for a lack of trying.

The Lakers have had a number of meetings with prospective free agents but have been unable to come to a deal. The biggest reason for not landing any free agents is the Lakers insistence on not offering multi-year deals. The Lakers have their eyes set on free agency in 2018 and want to do everything they can do preserve that space.

As a result, the Lakers have not landed any free agents. They tried for George Hill and Dion Waiters, but both landed long-term lucrative deals. The Lakers are sticking to their guns to not hand out long-term deals, which is a good thing. With the money drying up around the league, it is now time for the Lakers to strike in free agency with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

Caldwell-Pope entered the offseason as a restricted free agent. As a restricted free agent, the Detroit Pistons would have had the opportunity to match any offer sheet that he signed. That hurt his market, as teams do not like having money tied up with no guarantee they get the player.

As a restricted free agent, Caldwell-Pope garnered very little interest. It was believed that the Pistons and Caldwell-Pope were far apart in contract talks.

$80 million is a lot of money, but when Otto Porter is signed to a four-year, $104 million max deal and Tim Hardaway Jr. inks a four-year, $71 million offer sheet, it made some sense for Caldwell-Pope to wait. But, the waiting game could come back to haunt him.

When the Pistons agreed to trade Marcus Morris to the Boston Celtics for Avery Bradley and a 2019 second round pick, it added another shooting guard to their roster. It was the third shooting guard the Pistons acquired this offseason, as they selected Luke Kennard with the 12th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft and signed free agent Langston Galloway.

Galloway’s signing put the Pistons in a hard-cap situation. Because of that, the Pistons could not match any offer for Caldwell-Pope that surpassed $16 million. Combined with the Bradley acquisition, the Pistons decided to renounce the rights to Caldwell-Pope. That made Caldwell-Pope an unrestricted free agent.

With Caldwell-Pope now an unrestricted free agent, his market should have expanded. But, he became an unrestricted free agent late in the game, which minimized his market.

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The Lakers and Brooklyn Nets were two teams that reportedly had an interest in Caldwell-Pope. The Nets are a team always in play for restricted free agents, as they are willing to throw big money at them as they need to add talent to their roster in any way possible. But, the Nets may not be a viable option anymore.

With their acquisition of DeMarre Carroll from the Toronto Raptors, the Nets have eaten into a majority of their available cap space. The Lakers, meanwhile, have yet to add a player, so they have the same amount of cap space now as they did back on July 1st.

With that in mind, the Lakers need to get aggressive in pursuing Caldwell-Pope. There are other teams that can maneuver to open up some cap space to offer a long-term deal, but the Lakers should offer Caldwell-Pope the same kind of deal they offered Dion Waiters.

According to reports, Waiters was offered a one-year, $17 million deal by the Lakers. He turned it down and returned to the Miami Heat, but that kind of one-year balloon contract is exactly what Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN believes the Lakers could offer Caldwell-Pope.

Caldwell-Pope is exactly what the Lakers need. He is a very good defender and capable three-point shooter; he made a career-high 35 percent from deep last season. The Lakers also have a huge hole at shooting guard, which is where Caldwell-Pope has spent 90 percent of his playing time in the NBA according to Basketball Reference.

Caldwell-Pope was put into a difficult position this offseason becoming an unrestricted free agent so late in the process. As a result, there are not as many teams that will be after his services. This is the exact type of situation the Lakers were waiting for, and it is time for them to pounce.

Offering Caldwell-Pope a huge one-year offer would make sense. A 1+1 deal would also make sense, as it would provide Caldwell-Pope a chance to re-enter free agency and look for another long-term deal next offseason if he plays well.

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Caldwell-Pope fills the Lakers biggest remaining needs. He plays shooting guard, can shoot three-pointers, and plays defense. The Lakers should pounce sooner than later. Caldwell-Pope’s market doesn’t seem to be too hot right now, so Los Angeles should take full advantage and try signing him before other teams get in on Caldwell-Pope.