The Los Angeles Lakers took on despised rival Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday, and even though LeBron James sat out the much-awaited game to rest his right ankle, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope did a pretty good impression of The King.

Caldwell-Pope took off for a ferocious dunk early on in the game, putting Clippers big man Ivica Zubac on a poster.

KCP looked spry as he rose up and yammed it viciously on Zubac who attempted to block the shot.

While fans and pundits have scoffed at the team giving Caldewell-Pope contract after contract to appease LeBron and their agent Rich Paul, the veteran guard has become one of the most important members of the Lakers’ rotation.

This year, he is doing some of the best three-point shooting of his career. Caldwell-Pope is attempting a career-high 57.5 percent of his shots from deep, delivering on them by sinking them 41.2 percent of the time.

RECOMMENDED (Article Continues Below)
Although he's preparing for the playoffs, LeBron James showed love to Florida A&M football's championship rings.

Randall Barnes ·

LeBron James, Anthony Davis, D'Angelo Russell, Lakers logo on one side. On other side is Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic, Michael Porter Jr.

Bailey Bassett ·

Chris Paul in a Clippers uniform with question marks everywhere.

Joey Mistretta ·

Of course, it has long been proven that LeBron performs the best when he is surrounded by shooting, which is why the Lakers were so successful with Caldwell-Pope and Danny Green last season. But of course, Lakers fans didn’t realize what they had with Green until he was gone this season.

On an interesting side note, KCP has the highest number of blocks in his career this season with 21. Perhaps it’s because the NBA is getting smaller, or perhaps his timing is better.

Either way, the Lakers should be glad to have a well-rounded player like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on the roster.