Tag: kentavious caldwell pope uga

Every Georgia Bulldog in the NBA

There are currently three former Georgia Bulldog basketball standouts in the NBA

There are currently three former Georgia Bulldog standouts in the NBA. This past November, Anthony Edwards became the first Georgia Bulldog to be selected No. 1 overall in the NBA Draft.

Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope won an NBA Championship in 2020. Caldwell-Pope has begun his 2020-2021 campaign with some silky smooth shooting. Look for him in the Lakers to return to the championship picture once again this season.

Nicolas Claxton has a great opportunity this season with the Brooklyn Nets, who could use a center. Claxton may be able to step in and fill the void for the Nets later in the season.

LeBron James congratulates former Georgia Bulldog on new deal

LeBron James congratulates former Georgia Bulldog basketball star Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on signing a new deal with the Los Angeles Lakers

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Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James credited former Georgia Bulldog great Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for helping the Lakers win an NBA Championship this past season. Los Angeles defeated the Miami Heat in a six-game series, where Caldwell-Pope was often Los Angeles’ third option behind James and Anthony Davis.

Following the Lakers’ championship, Caldwell-Pope was set to enter free agency. He earned leverage after his impressive postseason and had interest from numerous teams in the NBA. Now, per The Athletics’ Shams Charania, the Los Angeles Lakers are re-signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a three year, $40M deal.

Caldwell-Pope is set to make an average of $15M over the next two seasons, and he has a partially guaranteed third year in the contract. He’ll look to win more championships in Los Angeles.

James congratulated his teammate on his new deal via his Twitter account:

The Lakers are happy whenever James is happy, so it is a great deal for L.A., which will still have a large role for Caldwell-Pope.

Here’s how the basketball world reacted to Caldwell-Pope’s new contract with the Lakers:

This lineup is already a little bit outdated, but the Lakers are looking stacked:

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LeBron James congratulates former Georgia Bulldog on new deal

LeBron James congratulates former Georgia Bulldog basketball star Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on signing a new deal with the Los Angeles Lakers

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Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James credited former Georgia Bulldog great Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for helping the Lakers win an NBA Championship this past season. Los Angeles defeated the Miami Heat in a six-game series, where Caldwell-Pope was often Los Angeles’ third option behind James and Anthony Davis.

Following the Lakers’ championship, Caldwell-Pope was set to enter free agency. He earned leverage after his impressive postseason and had interest from numerous teams in the NBA. Now, per The Athletics’ Shams Charania, the Los Angeles Lakers are re-signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a three year, $40M deal.

Caldwell-Pope is set to make an average of $15M over the next two seasons, and he has a partially guaranteed third year in the contract. He’ll look to win more championships in Los Angeles.

James congratulated his teammate on his new deal via his Twitter account:

The Lakers are happy whenever James is happy, so it is a great deal for L.A., which will still have a large role for Caldwell-Pope.

Here’s how the basketball world reacted to Caldwell-Pope’s new contract with the Lakers:

This lineup is already a little bit outdated, but the Lakers are looking stacked:

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Kentavious Caldwell-Pope captures first NBA Finals ring

Former Georgia basketball star Kentavious Caldwell-Pope captures his first NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers

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It was an emotional Sunday night for the Los Angeles Lakers to say the least.ย  Just months after the tragic passing of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, and after months of being inside the NBA bubble in Orlando, FL, the Lakers are NBA Finals champions for the 17th time.

Led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Los Angeles managed to defeat the red hot Miami Heat in six games.ย  The Lakers are now tied with the Boston Celtics for most championships ever by a franchise.

Of the supporting cast around the two superstars, former Georgia standout Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was one that made a big difference.

Caldwell-Pope averaged 10.7 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1 steal per game during the 2020 playoffs.ย  In the game six closeout game on Sunday night, Caldwell-Pope put up big numbers, going for 17 points and a pair of rebounds.

Caldwell-Pope will go down in history as an NBA champion in a year that many say was the hardest championship ever won.ย  Congrats to KCP on an incredible championship run.

Lakers’ Anthony Davis: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ‘saved us’

Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis credited former Georgia Bulldog Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for helping win game one of the NBA Finals

Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis credited former Georgia Bulldog great Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for helping the Lakers win game one of the NBA Finals. Los Angeles defeated the Miami Heat 116-98 in a disastrous game for the Heat. Miami lost and suffered several key injuries to Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, and Goran Dragic.

Before the Lakers took a comfortable lead, Miami raced out to a 23-10 lead in the first quarter. Los Angeles looked lost offensively and LeBron James checked out of the game for his usual rest.

Needing a spark offensively, some open looks fell to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who buried a pair of threes and scored a few points in the paint. KCP helped stave off Miami’s initial onslaught.

Los Angeles, led by the dynamic duo of Anthony Davis and LeBron James, didn’t look back from there. The Lakers outscored the Heat 55-25 for the rest of the first half. The Heat never cut the Lakers lead to single digits for the whole second half.

Following the game, Anthony Davis credited Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. He said that:

“KCP saved us.”

Davis and the Lakers will look to defeat the Heat next on Friday night. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has a large role on the team and plays the third-most minutes for LA. He doesn’t have to shoulder a massive scoring burden, but the team looks for him to step up in some big moments.

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Former Georgia Bulldog Kentavious Caldwell-Pope makes NBA finals

Former Georgia Bulldog Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has made his first career NBA Finals for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Former Georgia Bulldog basketball star Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has made his first career NBA Finals. Caldwell-Pope and the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Denver Nuggets 4-1 in the Western Conference Finals.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope began his NBA career with the Detroit Pistons. Detroit selected the Greenville, Georgia product with the 8th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.

Following four years with the Pistons, Caldwell-Pope joined the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent in 2017. Caldwell-Pope hasn’t had to play as heavy of minutes for the Lakers, but he’s still making an impact.

In fact, for the first four games of the series Caldwell-Pope has stepped up to be the Lakers’ third option against the Denver Nuggets. The Lakers have a dynamic duo in LeBron James and Anthony Davis that handles much of the scoring and playmaking burden for Los Angeles. While point guard Rajon Rondo is certainly the Lakers’ third playmaker, Caldwell-Pope has averaged 13.5 points per game throughout the first four games conference finals while shooting at an efficient clip.

The former Georgia player only scored 2 points in Game 5 against Denver, but he only took two shots. His defense and unselfishness helped Los Angeles get the win along with a 38 point triple-double from LeBron James.

KCP has shot 42.1% from three point range this postseason opening up countless driving lanes for LeBron James. The Lakers will face the winner of the Miami Heat versus Boston Celtics Eastern Conference Finals series.

Despite the heavy pressure of playing for the Lakers in the playoffs, Caldwell-Pope has been able to make some big-time plays in key moments throughout the Western Conference Finals.

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