The Los Angeles Lakers and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope have agreed to a one-year deal worth $18 million, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has agreed to a one-year, $18 million deal with the Lakers, sources tell ESPN.
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) July 12, 2017
Los Angeles had reportedly been in talks with Caldwell-Pope over the last several days. Those conversations increased once he became an unrestricted free agent earlier this week after the Detroit Pistons acquired Avery Bradley from the Boston Celtics. There were also several other teams that expressed significant interest in him.
Through his first four years in the league, the 24-year-old has developed into a reliable player on both ends of the floor and is coming off a productive campaign where he averaged 13.8 points on a career-high 35 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
Things heated up further on Tuesday with both sides meeting again as the team also spoke with former All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo. Despite the Lakers committing all of their salary-cap space this offseason to Caldwell-Pope, the team is still looking to possibly add Rondo to the mix by using a trade exception.
Sources: Despite committing $18M for Caldwell-Pope, Lakers still trying to find a way to sign Rondo. Lakers have a $4.3M exception to use. https://t.co/4tGvW70sro
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 12, 2017
Los Angeles has held firm since the start of free agency that they were looking to add a veteran player on a one-year deal to keep their financial flexibility for next season. The addition of Caldwell-Pope provides the team just that with a young player that can impact the game on both ends of the floor.
Meanwhile, Rondo will give them a proven point guard to help show the ropes to rookie Lonzo Ball in his first season in the league.
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