Los Angeles Lakers: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope faces Pistons for first time

On Halloween, the Los Angeles Lakers will be hosting the Detroit Pistons. One player that will surely be amped up is Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

This offseason, the Los Angeles Lakers were shockingly able to sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a one-year deal. As a restricted free agent starting the offseason, Caldwell-Pope was not projected to be a player that would even be on the Lakers’ radar this offseason.

However, the Pistons ended up trading for shooting guard Avery Bradley, which was a clear indication that they were interested in signing Caldwell-Pope to a long-term deal. The Pistons went on to renounce their rights to Caldwell-Pope, making him a free agent late in the game.

Since his options were somewhat limited, the Lakers were able to jump in and sign Caldwell-Pope to a one-year deal worth about $18 million. For the Lakers, this was a home run signing. They were able to get a talented young player in Caldwell-Pope for this season, and it also kept them flexible for next offseason.

Caldwell-Pope was suspended for the first two games of the season, but since then he has been a starter for Los Angeles. As expected, Caldwell-Pope has been very good for the Lakers defensively. In addition to his strong play defensively, he has also shown an ability to score with a 20-point game against the New Orleans Pelicans.

While his shooting percentage from 3-point range is a bit lower than the Lakers would have hoped to see, it is still extremely early in the season. On Tuesday, Caldwell-Pope will be playing against his former team for the first time.

As always, players always seem to have a little extra motivation when facing their former teams. Expect no different from Caldwell-Pope on Tuesday. For the Lakers, the Pistons will be another challenging opponent.

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So far this season, Detroit has a 5-2 record and are playing very well. With four players averaging in double figures, the Lakers will have to be prepared for a balanced attack on Tuesday. For Caldwell-Pope, he will likely see time against Bradley on Tuesday, and that will certainly be a matchup to watch.