Los Angeles Lakers Rumors: Free agent shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope met with the team today.
Los Angeles Lakers rumors have begun to pick up. With the NBA moratorium period over, free agents are not allowed to sign and make deals official that they agreed to with teams. The Lakers will not be doing that.
Los Angeles has not agreed to terms with a free agent yet this offseason. They have talked to a multitude of players, but they have stuck to their guns; they do not want to offer any deals that would eat into their cap space beyond this season.
With that being their strategy, the Lakers have missed out on players such as George Hill and Dion Waiters. The Lakers offered a big, one-year offer to both players but didn’t land either player. Hill agreed to a three-year, $57 million deal with the Sacramento Kings and Waiters returned to the Miami Heat for $52 million over four years.
While fans are disappointed the Lakers have yet to make any moves, you have to appreciate the Lakers sticking to their plan. The plan is clear for the future; they want to be players in 2018 when superstars such as Paul George, LeBron James, and Russell Westbrook could be available. The plan could even pay dividends as early as this offseason.
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Since they have not signed anyone, the Lakers are one of the few teams remaining that have legitimate cap space left. Los Angeles has over $17 million available. That puts them in play for the services of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
Caldwell-Pope entered this offseason as a restricted free agent with the Detroit Pistons. With the Pistons having the chance to match any offer sheet, Caldwell-Pope received almost no interest.
Once the Pistons signed Langston Galloway, they put themselves in the hard cap, meaning they couldn’t match any offer sheet that paid Caldwell-Pope more than $16 million. Then, the Pistons acquired Avery Bradley from the Boston Celtics, further cutting into their available funds.
After acquiring Bradley, the Pistons denounced the rights to Caldwell-Pope, making him an unrestricted free agent. Caldwell-Pope quickly became the best player available, but with it being so late in the game, there aren’t many teams that can offer him a near-max contract that he was looking at as a restricted free agent.
The Lakers were one of the teams that expressed interest in Caldwell-Pope when he became an unrestricted free agent. According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, the Lakers and Caldwell-Pope actually met today.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope met with Lakers today, sources said. Several teams have expressed interest since he became unrestricted.
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) July 11, 2017
Caldwell-Pope was not the only guard to visit the Lakers today. It was also reported that free agent point guard Rajon Rondo visited the Lakers on Monday.
Pursuing Caldwell-Pope is a great move by the Lakers. They slow played the market and now could land one of the best free agents in this year’s class as a result.
Caldwell-Pope would immediately fill plenty of holes for the Lakers. They need a starting shooting guard, someone that can play defense and knock down three-pointers. Caldwell-Pope checks all three boxes.
The interest in him is not surprising. The Lakers should aggressively pursue him. Offering a one-year balloon contract would make some sense, as it would let him hit free agency next season in hopes of landing a long-term deal.
Next: 4 Reasons Lakers Should Sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Is that something that Caldwell-Pope would be interested in? We will have to wait and see as the Lakers look to finally make some noise in free agency.