Kentavious Caldwell-Pope Signs with Orlando Magic: Helps a Weakness, Adds to a Strength
Photo by David Berding/Getty Images. Pictured: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
The Orlando Magic made one of the first free agency splashes on Sunday by adding Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
KCP is a two-time NBA champion who stars in his role. He's exactly the plug-and-play starter, that a youthful team needs when aiming to take their next step as an organization around multiple young rising stars.
The 6-foot-5 guard defected from the Denver Nuggets and signed a three-year deal worth $66 million to join Orlando, with the last year of the contract being a player option, as originally reported by Turner's Chris Haynes.
KCP will help the Magic in two critical areas of team building.
Offensive Spacing
No, he's not the creator that the team desperately needs (and still could acquire with a projected cap space of $30 million per ESPN's Bobby Marks), but he is a shooter.
An elite one from three, at that.
KCP is a career 37% 3-point shooter but is just above 40% going back five seasons — that's on 4.3 attempts per game and 5.2 attempts per 36 minutes.
He's also a playoff veteran, having started in all 62 of his post-season appearances, 58 of which have come since the 2019-20 season, where he was a starter on the Lakers championship team. He shot 38% on nearly six 3s per game during the bubble playoffs and scored 10.7 points per game.
Also a starter with the champion Nuggets in 2023, his numbers were similar. He had 10.6 points per game, made 38% from deep on 4.6 attempts per game, all while playing tremendous defense in both series.
Last season, the Magic shot the third fewest amount of threes per 100 possessions at 32.1. Only the Detroit Pistons and Lakers were lower in rank, and his Nuggets were at 32.2 — slighty better.
The Magic also, as a collective, only shot 35.2% from 3, tied for the 23rd best percentage in the league, meaning they were bottom 10 in accuracy from downtown.
KCP walks in the door as Orlando's most threatening 3-point shooter, which will be a nice release valve for the cornerstones in Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner — the team's two assist leaders and highest usage players from a season ago.
A Valiant Defender
KCP's defense is fairly straightforward. He'll often guard the other team's best guard who's rangy and switchable, adding to the Magic's already potent defense.
Additionally, he won't have to guard the other team's best nearly as often given who his teammates are. Jalen Suggs was one of the best defensive players in the NBA and should've been a legitimate DPOY candidate. Caldwell-Pope will only help the Magic do what they do best in terms of on-ball pressure, rotations and physicality.
The Magic haven't even completed their roster, so it's hard to say who else will be there in totality. We do know because of his pedigree, that he'll share lineups with Suggs, Banchero, Wagner and Wendell Carter Jr. — those would probably be their starting five guys right now.
KCP helps Orlando's biggest weakness and refines their largest strength. If they get jumpy in a year, it's certainly a tradeable contract as well — but ideally, he's a keeper before anything else.
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