Rockets Reportedly Targeting Lakers’ Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

Lonzo Ball (left), Brandon Ingram (middle), and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (right). Photo by Chelsea Lauren/REX/Shutterstock

After taking the Golden State Warriors to seven games in the Western Conference Finals last season, Houston Rockets are struggling to find their footing at the start of 2018-19 NBA season. In order to reestablish themselves as a contender, Rockets are trying to add some depth to their roster and reportedly their primary target is Los Angeles Lakers’ Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

Houston’s general manager Daryl Morey was trying to add a wing with three-point shooting ability lately and it seemed that Cleveland Cavaliers’ JR Smith might be the answer. Now, according to the New York Times’ NBA insider Marc Stein, the team decided to target Caldwell-Pope instead.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope resigned to a one-year deal, worth $12 million with the Lakers the summer, which gave him the ability to veto any trade the team makes for him. Still, it looks like it wouldn’t be such a big issue for the Houston Rockets to convince the 25-year-old to play for him as it would be coming with a trade that Lakers would be willing to accept. Rockets don’t have as many assets they could offer without hurting their roster, so it will be interesting to see whether Morey will manage to pull off this one.

Caldwell-Pope played poorly at the beginning of the season, but improved in the last four games, averaging 12.2 points per game. He played a total of 31 games for the Lakers this season, averaging 9.1 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.

Gunner's favorite movies are Pulp Fiction, Iron Man (just the first one), and every James Bond film ever made. He's learning TV and cinema and hoping to always enjoy movies as he does now.