Los Angeles Lakers: A meme no more, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is having his best season

Once the punchline to almost every NBA joke, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is having the best season of his career for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Not that long ago, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was the subject of years-long debate for fans of the Detroit Pistons. To pay KCP or not? The Pistons never had to open the checkbook, instead trading him in 2017 to the Los Angeles Lakers in the first of a series of moves that ultimately led to acquiring Blake Griffin from the LA Clippers.

In the early days with the Lakers, Caldwell-Pope didn’t deliver on the promise of a young 3-and-D guard, and the heightened scrutiny and expectations of playing on such a bright stage boiled over. In the pre-LeBron James era, that 2017-18 squad was a bad Lakers team, going 35-47. KCP ended up being a favorite punching bag for Lakers fans and national fans and media.

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To be fair, he brought some of this onto himself. In his last months as a Piston, he was charged with a DUI in suburban Detroit and then later violated his probation in Los Angeles. As a result, he served a modified 25-day sentence at Seal Beach Police Department Detention Center in Orange County, California.

The terms of this deal allowed him to practice and play games in California under a work-release program over the course of these 25 days, but he was unable to travel on road games outside of the state. It was a favorable deal, but he missed three road games as a result.

As one might imagine, while he was able to play and practice, the commute from the detention center to work could easily take one out of their valuable rhythm. Sure enough, Caldwell-Pope wasn’t good when he played and the jokes flowed from all corners.

Considering how little there was to remember in that 2017-18 season for the Los Angeles Lakers, he was a lightning rod for frustration.

Fast forward a few years, and Caldwell-Pope is experiencing a rejuvenation. Having just turned 27 years old over the All-Star break, he’s in the midst of his best season by far.

He can play a quieter, less front-of-mind part with these Lakers, coming off the bench alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. He’s shooting better than ever from all areas on the floor with shooting splits of .470/.407/.789, and he’s settled into a supporting role.

He’s averaging just 9.6 points while taking 7.3 shots per game. His usage is the lowest its been since his rookie season at 14.9 percent, but his effective field goal percentage (56.8 percent) and true shooting percentage (59.7 percent) speak to his higher efficiency and greater usefulness alongside his superstar teammates.

Two-thirds of his minutes come with LeBron and Anthony Davis, and the trio boasts a dominant +8.5 net rating in their 1257 possessions this season.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will never be a superstar or anything more than a good role player, to be sure. But outside of a select few close observers, if you know KCP’s name it’s as the punchline of a joke.

Come May and June, however, you may know KCP as a whole lot more. If he keeps doing his job at the level he’s done it so far this season, you may know him as an NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers alongside LeBron James.