Houston Rockets Rumors: How Kentavious Caldwell-Pope fits in Houston

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Short-term money and assets

The thing that makes this trade difficult is the Lakers are really good. They have good, young assets to pair with, arguably, the best player to ever play the game in LeBron James. The Lakers are 18-13, the four seed, and are a game and a half ahead of the 16-14 Houston Rockets.

There isn’t much reason for the Lakers to be selling any playable, valuable assets like KCP. In fact, it actually seems foolish that they would rid themselves of a 3-and-d player like KCP as guys like him are the players that seem to thrive most around LeBron. So, how can the Houston Rockets make this happen?

Well, the money is the first issue to work through. KCP signed a one-year, $12 million deal with the Lakers this summer. He also has early bird rights which means he can veto any trade though reports indicate he’d accept a trade to Houston. That’s a pretty decent chunk of change and the Rockets don’t have a ton of guys that they’d be willing to part with.

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The one guy that seems to fit both of these descriptions is Brandon Knight as he has a similar price tag and someone who doesn’t seem to particularly fit into the Rockets grand plan. However, the Lakers want short-term money and Knight carries an expensive price tag into the 2019-20 season.

But, Knight doesn’t seem to be the type of player that opposing teams, especially those that are in major playoff contention, like the Lakers, will seem to covet. He has only played four games this season averaging 5.5 minutes per game. His first game this season was his first since spring of 2017. That doesn’t exactly scream contender. His game is good when he’s healthy but that is a huge question mark.

Attaching a first-round pick to Knight seems like the Houston Rockets best course of action but it appears that that hasn’t been enticing enough for teams at this point in the season, especially for a team like the Lakers. They could be enticed by adding more picks but I’m not sure KCP is worth a ton of picks attached to a big salary. The Rockets could also potentially look to throw in Melo to entice the Lakers more.

The Rockets best course of action is to try to find a third team to take Knight and his money and potentially a pick or two from the Lakers or Rockets, or both of them. However, finding the team that is willing to do that that has a player the Lakers want will be a tall task. Time will tell if Daryl Morey will be able to, once again, work his magic and pull this deal off.

Next. Three reasons that the Rockets have reached a turning point. dark

On the season, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is averaging 14.7 points on a .407/.349/.905 slash line. He also has grabbed 4.0 rebounds and dished out 1.4 assists to go with 1.3 steals and 0.3 blocks all per 35 minutes. It seems pretty meager but he would be a terrific addition to the Houston Rockets.

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