The dominoes are starting to fall in the 2018 NBA summer free agency period.
On Sunday afternoon, Klutch Sports announced that LeBron James would leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and sign a 4-year, $154 million deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. This came after Paul George reportedly decided to stay with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Meanwhile, the Lakers aren’t done dealing just yet. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who played for the Lakers last season, also agreed to sign a $12 million deal just minutes after it was announced that LeBron would head to the City of Angels.
Via Twitter:
The Klutch Sports Group momentum continues with a one-year, $12 million deal for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to the Lakers, I can confirm. These rosters spots are going to fill up quick...
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) July 2, 2018
KCP was useful in 74 games for Los Angeles last season, although his development has started to waver as he enters his sixth year. More importantly for the Lakers, Caldwell-Pope takes up a significant amount of their remaining cap space. After signing KCP and James, Los Angeles will have something like $7 million left to go before they hit the cap.
No doubt the Lakers are still doing everything they can in their power to pry Kawhi Leonard away from the San Antonio Spurs, and now it’s up to Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka to fill out the roster and create a contender in the west with James that can combat the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets.
