When news broke that the Orlando Magic had landed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, it felt like a massive deal.
Sure, some fans wanted to see the Magic land Paul George or make a massive trade for the current belle of the trade market ball, Lauri Markkanen, but in the end, Orlando targeted their guy, signed him in the opening moments of free agency before PG-13 even came off the board, and now have the sort of two-way veteran presence who not only fits with head coach Jamahl Mosley's identity to a T but can also teach one of the youngest teams in the Association how to win.
Standing 6-foot-5, 210 pounds, the man affectionately known as KCP is widely considered the prototypical 3-and-D two guard the NBA has to offer. With a knockdown 3-point shot, he connected on 41.5 percent of the time over his tenure in Denver and a willingness to defend up and down the lineup as his team sees fit.
Slide Caldwell-Pope into the starting two-guard spot this fall next to Jalen Suggs, and suddenly, a starting five rounded out by Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero, and Wendell Carter looks really good, with the potential to run even more exciting sub-packages with KCP's offense and defense covering for more one-way players like Jonathan Issac or Cole Anthony.
While KCP may not be a star, he is one of the premier role players in the NBA, and considering the frontcourt of Wagner and Banchero is going to be very expensive, locking him up on a good value contract for multiple years is a fantastic way for Orlando to cement itself as a perennial Eastern Conference contender.
The Nuggets were ‘okay' with KCP leaving
In the lead-up to free agency, Nuggets GM Calvin Booth discussed with reporters his forthcoming free agency plan and let it be known that while Denver would have loved to bring back Caldwell-Pope, he thought the team would be okay if they lost him too, as he felt he'd built up a strong enough bench to weather his exit.
“Yeah, I think we have to look at everything and the nature of free agency: he's unrestricted, so we can try to bring him back, but if he wasn't want to come back or chooses to go somewhere else, that's his prerogative,” Calvin Booth told reporters via Mile High Sports.
“We'll have to work with that, but I think we're prepared to plug-and-play, so to speak. I think when you look at some of the teams that have been good in the past, they have to find a way to replace fourth, fifth starters, and sixth man off the bench and still keep rolling. It would be nice if he's back.
“They have a lot of continuity together, but I think all the stuff I've looked at, all the lineup stuff, Christian Braun is one of the best net rating guys in the league, as is KCP. If [Braun] is to step into the starting lineup like probably projected, I think we'll be okay if KCP doesn't return.”
Can Braun be that fifth starter or sixth man off of the bench, or should Booth be able to bring in another starting-caliber guard on a value contract? Potentially so, but where the Nuggets felt confident enough to let KCP walk, the Magic clearly made him a priority.
Magic rookie Tristan da Silva wants to learn from KCP
Discussing his move to the Magic after being drafted by the team 18th overall, Tristan da Silva explicitly mentioned KCP as a player he wants to not only play with but learn from heading into his professional basketball career.
“It's kind of crazy because when he won his ring in 2020 in the bubble, I thought, ‘Yo, he's got to be a crazy vet to play with,'” Tristan da Silva told reporters via FanNation. “He just seems like the guy you want to have on your team, and he brings that experience [and] that leadership. It's wild to think four years later, I'm on the same team as him. I'll try to pick his brain a lot too [and] see how championship caliber teams operate.”
Standing 6-foot-8, 220 pounds, da Silva is a big, athletic wing who averaged nearly 16 points per game on 39.5 percent 3-point shooting during his final two seasons in Colorado. If he can translate his shot from college to the pros and show the sort of defensive versatility of KCP as his career progresses into the future, who knows, maybe the duo will be fixtures of the Magic's rotation in 2024 and beyond.
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