Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

BIOGRAPHY

Kentavious Tannell Caldwell-Pope was born on February 18, 1993, in Thomaston, Georgia. He is a guard in the NBA.

Caldwell-Pope was a highly heralded player in high school. As a senior, he averaged 31 points and 8.2 rebounds per game at Greenville High School in Greenville, Georgia. He led the Patriots to the State Class A Final Four in 2011 and to consecutive Sweet 16 berths in 2009–10. He was named to several prominent high school All-America teams as a senior, including being selected to play in the 2011 McDonald's All-American Game and the Jordan Brand Classic. As a senior, he was rated the nation's No. 3 shooting guard prospect, the No. 12 prospect overall, by recruiting analysts for Rivals.com.

Caldwell-Pope chose Georgia to play for Mark Fox and Cody Anderson over scholarship offers from Alabama, Florida State, Georgia Tech, and Tennessee among others. As a freshman, Caldwell-Pope was named to the Coaches' Freshman All-SEC Team, which also included NBA lottery picks Bradley Beal, Anthony Davis, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. His highest output as a freshman was 25 points vs. Ole Miss, which was the most by a UGA freshman in almost 13 years. As a sophomore, Caldwell-Pope was named SEC Player of the Year after averaging 18.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. He ended his collegiate career scoring a career-high 32 points and 13 rebounds against LSU at the SEC tournament in Nashville.

On June 27, 2013, Caldwell-Pope was selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons. In July 2014, Caldwell-Pope rejoined the Pistons for the 2014 NBA Summer League, where he averaged 24.0 points and 7.4 rebounds in five games. Head coach Stan Van Gundy quickly assessed Caldwell-Pope as his best perimeter defender and he wound up leading the Pistons in minutes played with 2,587. On February 23, 2017, Caldwell-Pope scored 33 points, including three three-pointers late in the fourth quarter during a Detroit rally, as the Pistons defeated the Charlotte Hornets 114–108 in overtime. Caldwell-Pope's three-pointer with 18.2 seconds to play tied the game at 100.

On July 13, 2017, Caldwell-Pope signed a one-year, $18 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. He made his debut for the Lakers on October 22, 2017, scoring 20 points as a starter. On July 6, 2018, Caldwell-Pope re-signed with the Lakers for another year. He had a season-high 35 points against the Milwaukee Bucks.

He won his first NBA championship with the Lakers in 2020.

 On 7/29/2021, Pope was traded to Washington Wizards along with Montrezl Harrell and Kyle Kuzma in exchange for Russell Westbrook.

On July 6, 2022, Caldwell-Pope was traded, alongside Ish Smith, to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Monté Morris and Will Barton. On July 16, Caldwell-Pope signed a two-year, $30 million contract extension with the Nuggets. He made his Nuggets debut on October 19, recording two points, four rebounds, six assists and two steals in a 123–102 loss to the Utah Jazz. In Game 5 of the NBA Finals, Caldwell-Pope put up 11 points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals, and three blocks in a 94–89 win over the Miami Heat to help the Nuggets win their first NBA championship in franchise history.