After the Detroit Pistons renounced their rights to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope yesterday, making him an unrestricted free agent.
The Los Angeles Lakers have expressed interest in signing him and hope that will help their pursuit of LeBron James in free agency next summer, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
"Caldwell-Pope is a player they feel could help them long-term, but it's a prelude to their pursuit of LeBron James, potentially,” Wojnarowski said. “As the Lakers' pursuit of LeBron James heats up, they bring in someone from Klutch Sports, and the one thing I think anybody knows if you're going to get at LeBron James, you need a roster of two-way players.
“They could potentially sign him at a high number for one year, create more cap space next year and re-sign him to an extension as the Lakers try to pursue Paul George and LeBron James. Whether Paul is willing to do that one-year deal remains to be seen, but that's what the Lakers are pitching."
As for Caldwell-Pope himself, he would give the Lakers a young knockdown shooter who would help space the floor and would fit well in the backcourt next to Lonzo Ball.
Whether KCP would want to do a one-year deal remains to be seen. He turned down a five-year, $80 million offer from Detroit because he thought he could get a bigger offer from another team, but that has yet to be the case. The Brooklyn Nets also have serious in Caldwell-Pope.
The 24-year-old averaged 13.8 points per game while shooting 39.9 percent from the floor and 35.0 percent from three-point range last season.
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