Going into the summer of 2017, most assumed that restricted free agent Kentavious Caldwell-Pope would wind up coming to terms on a new contrct with the Detroit Pistons. Instead, Detroit went a different direction, freeing up Caldwell-Pope to take a one-year deal with the Lakers.
With his next contract on the line, Caldwell-Pope turned in a season that was better than the narrative surrounding him would have you believe. After a brutal month of December in which personal issues off the court negatively impacted his play on it, perception of Caldwell-Pope soured.
However, Caldwell-Pope bounced back in a big way when the calendar turned to 2018.