{"id":69943,"date":"2024-03-23T03:20:39","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T07:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=69943"},"modified":"2024-03-23T03:30:38","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T07:30:38","slug":"nuggets-kentavious-caldwell-pope-reveals-mindset-2024-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/23\/nuggets-kentavious-caldwell-pope-reveals-mindset-2024-free-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuggets Champion Reveals Mindset Ahead of Free Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

Denver Nuggets wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope<\/a> could be on his sixth contract this offseason.<\/p>\n

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope Reveals Mindset Ahead of Free Agency<\/h2>\n

The 11-year NBA veteran has a $15.4 million player option on his deal for 2024-25 and should he decline it, he\u2019ll be an unrestricted free agent in the summer. With that comes two routes. One will lead him back to the Mile High. The other will lead him out of it.<\/p>\n

With only a dozen games remaining in the regular season, Caldwell-Pope\u2019s decision is nearing. But first, he\u2019ll have a postseason run to worry about. A two-time NBA champion, Caldwell-Pope has more rings than anyone in his draft class, including Milwaukee Bucks megastar Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Denver Post\u2019s Bennett Durando, the 31-year-old says \u201cit gets hard not to think about it<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut right now to me, it\u2019s just trying to get to the playoffs, trying to win another championship, whether I have a player option or not. That\u2019s the least of my worries. It\u2019s just trying to play high-level basketball, whoever that may be with.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Caldwell-Pope \u201cis expected as of March to decline his player option and attract a robust market,\u201d according to The Denver Post. However, those conversations \u201chave to wait for toward (sic) the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, it\u2019s worth noting that Caldwell-Pope signed a two-year, $30.1 million contract extension to stay in Denver last offseason. His affinity for the Nuggets and their winning ways<\/a> is also of consequence.<\/p>\n

Asked how he gauges Denver\u2019s starting lineup, Caldwell-Pope says it \u201cmight be the best five I\u2019ll play with.\u201d<\/p>\n

This season, that five-man unit is outscoring opponents by +14.0 points per 100 possessions. Last season, Caldwell-Pope\u2019s first with the Nuggets, they outscored opponents by +12.6 points per 100 possessions. The collective talent of their starting unit notwithstanding, his play is a significant factor in their success.<\/p>\n

On offense, the 3-point specialist has averaged 10.4 points per game while shooting 40.9 percent from deep. At the other end, Caldwell-Pope has taken on many of their toughest defensive assignments, buoyed by his determination and athleticism. He\u2019s also averaged a team-high 1.4 steals per game in that stretch.<\/p>\n

KCP to the Magic?<\/h3>\n

There are several teams projected to have enough practical cap space<\/a> to sign Caldwell-Pope to a lucrative contract. Considering Caldwell-Pope\u2019s focus on winning championships<\/a>, there are three that stand out in particular: the Philadelphia 76ers, the Orlando Magic, and the Oklahoma City Thunder.<\/p>\n

The Magic have already been linked<\/a> to Golden State Warriors veteran Klay Thompson ahead of free agency, one of the best 3-point shooters of all-time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Denver Nuggets wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope could be on his sixth contract this offseason. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope Reveals Mindset Ahead of Free Agency The 11-year NBA veteran has a $15.4 million player option on his deal for 2024-25 and should he decline it, he\u2019ll be an unrestricted free agent in the summer. With that comes two routes. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":69946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1608,62,3],"tags":[1105,297],"class_list":["post-69943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nuggets","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-kentavious-caldwell-pope","tag-nba-free-agency"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}