3. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (and Thomas Bryant), Denver Nuggets
Kentavoius Caldwell-Pope was unfortunately traded in the Westbrook trade and the Lakers have been unable to find anyone quite like him since. KCP was well on his way to becoming one of the greatest Lakers role players of all time and still would be producing at a high level for the team if Rob Pelinka did not make the ill-fated trade.
KCP is not the only former member of the purple and gold on the Nuggets, though. Thomas Bryant was surprisingly traded to Denver during the trade deadline and things have not gone great for him.
Bryant reportedly asked for the trade as he did not like his role with the Lakers. So he was shipped off to Denver where he has an even smaller role as Nikola Jokic’s backup. Bryant played 21.4 minutes in LA and is averaging only 10.6 minutes in Denver.
How the Lakers can face the Nuggets in the NBA Playoffs:
This matchup does not take calculus to figure out. The Nuggets are going to be the no. 1 seed in the Western Conference this year and the Lakers may end up facing them in the first round depending on what happens in the play-in.
Los Angeles would have to advance as the eighth seed in the West. There are one of two ways that can happen. If the team is the seventh or eighth seed in the West it would take them losing the first play-in game but winning the second play-in game to be the eighth seed. If they are the ninth or tenth seed they would have to win two in a row.