Los Angeles Lakers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s absence against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday was due to his compliance with a modified sentence from a misdemeanor offense of allowing someone to operate his vehicle under the influence in March, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reports.
Caldwell-Pope must be in California to begin a 25-day program which could potentially see him miss more games.
“As a result of his professional basketball work schedule, the court has modified the sentence and released him from probation early so long as he completes an intensive program over the next 25 days. There will be some travel restrictions, but we are pleased that Kentavious will now continue with his NBA season and move forward in a positive manner from this experience.”
Caldwell-Pope, who is averaging 14.2 points and 4.9 rebounds in his first season with the Lakers, had started the previous 25 games for Los Angeles. He missed the first two games of the year due to the suspension he earned for the aforementioned misdemeanor.
Rookie Josh Hart started at shooting guard in place of Caldwell-Pope and put up 11 points and 10 rebounds. That fine performance could see him get more starts if Caldwell-Pope misses more games due to his legal situation.
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