4 former Lakers who thrived last season and 2 who fell flat
By Jason Reed
Former Lakers player who thrived: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was, quite literally, a perfect role player for the Los Angeles Lakers. He could knock down a three-point shot when the team needed him to and he also provided quality perimeter defense that showed up in the NBA Playoffs.
KCP was who the Lakers thought they were getting out of Malik Beasley in the Russell Westbrook trade. Beasley reminded Lakers fans that being a three-and-D player in the backcourt for a contending team is easier said than done while KCP thrived in the same role with the Denver Nuggets.
Just like Beasley was acquired in a Westbrook trade, the Lakers shipped KCP out in the initial Westbrook trade that brought the former MVP to LA. Westbrook’s struggles in LA alone were enough to make the trade a bad one but the fact that KCP continued to play well made it even worse.
The former eighth-overall pick averaged 10.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. Most importantly, he shot a career-high 42.3% from three on 4.2 attempts per game. He did this while providing average-at-worst defense on the perimeter for Denver.
If the Lakers would not have traded KCP then he really could have gone down as one of the greatest role players in franchise history. If he would have stayed in LA and made the same number of threes the last two years as he did then he would have 816 threes as a Laker — which would be third in franchise history behind Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher.