Growing belief Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will leave Nuggets; Magic to strongly pursue him (2024)

Sam Vecenie @Sam_Vecenie
Hello! @MotorCityHoops here and I will be going LIVE and talking free agency here as it happens!
We’ll start with the Dejounte Murray deal, then pivot to KCP to ORL and then CP3 to SAS
youtube.com/live/8kP-Cy3Ta… – 9:35 PM

Sam Quinn @SamQuinnCBS
The Nuggets could probably find a solid KCP replacement by trading the 2031 pick.
The Bucks could probably find their perimeter defender by trading the 2031 pick.
The Suns? They need a lot of stuff but they could get some of it by, you guessed it, trading the 2031 pick. – 9:21 PM

Christos Tsaltas @Tsaltas46
In the NBA Free agency so far
Chris Paul signed with the Spurs
Eric Gordon moved to the Sixers
Valanciunas signed with the Wizards
Cade Cunnigham will sign max rookie extension with the Pistons
KCP signed to the Magic
Paul George out of the Clippers, Sixers en route.
#NBA – 9:00 PM

John Gonzalez @JohnGonzalez
LIVE NBA Free Agency episode of Beyond the Arc coming up on YouTube at 9 pm ET
Including:
-Latest on PG
-KCP to ORL
-Harden stays w/ LAC
-Klay’s next stop?
-LeBron willing to take a discount?
Join me, @sportsreiter & @AshNicoleMoss here⤵️
youtube.com/live/VbbZCrr5p… – 8:36 PM

Harrison Wind @HarrisonWind
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope leaving means the Nuggets can no longer claim they’re the NBA’s best starting five. Christian Braun’s likely to enter the starting lineup, but Denver has to be way more imaginative with its lineups. They have to stagger their starters more with the bench. – 8:17 PM

Josh Robbins @JoshuaBRobbins
With their agreement with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on a three-year, $66 million contract, the Orlando Magic made a significant upgrade on the wing. Story with analysis at @TheAthleticNBA ⤵️:
nytimes.com/athletic/56067… – 8:14 PM

Gerald Bourguet @GeraldBourguet
Luke Kornet kicked things off, KCP and Andre Drummond were the biggest names to change teams, and we’ve had like 7 deals total in 2 hours of NBA free agency.
We used to be a society – 7:56 PM

Harrison Wind @HarrisonWind
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was a great Nugget, but he’s turning 32 next year with a ton of miles/minutes on him. He also got exposed defensively in the playoffs vs. Anthony Edwards. I think Denver would rather the flexibility and wonder if KCP also didn’t mind a change of scenery. – 7:51 PM

Sam Quinn @SamQuinnCBS
Last year, I speculated about Denver potentially dumping KCP into someone’s cap space to open up the non-tax MLE to keep Bruce Brown. He was younger. Seemed like he’d be cheaper.
Doesn’t look like it would’ve been enough to keep BB, but it’s a fun hypothetical now. – 7:45 PM

Sam Quinn @SamQuinnCBS
The Zeke Nnaji contract is going to be a second apron case study for years to come.
When they signed it, it seemed harmless. Even sort of a positive. “Oh they’ll have a bit of matching salary for future trades.”
But right now it’s a major obstacle to Denver replacing KCP. – 7:42 PM

Bobby Marks @BobbyMarks42
From @StatsWilliams on KCP
Here is what Orlando is getting
Since the 2013-14 season, Caldwell-Pope has played in 96% of regular season games.
During the regular season, opponents shot 40.6% when Caldwell-Pope was the closest defender per Second Spectrum. That led the NBA – 7:42 PM

Zach Kram @zachkram
The Nuggets ranked 30th in 3-point attempts last season and have since lost the players with the third-most (KCP) and fourth-most (Jackson) attempts on the team.
I wonder where the spacing is going to come from outside the core starters next season. – 7:41 PM

Ky Carlin @Ky_Carlin
That Magic backcourt of Jalen Suggs and KCP is gonna give opposing offenses hell. Orlando still needs scoring though. – 7:39 PM

Yossi Gozlan @YossiGozlan
The Orlando Magic have about $28 million left in cap space after signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to three years, $66 million.
That’s assuming Pope gets flat $22 million cap hits. The Magic typically structure deals like that or descending. – 7:39 PM

Michael Pina @MichaelVPina
The Suggs-KCP backcourt isn’t quite at White-Holiday’s level on defense but it’s extremely close – 7:36 PM

Harrison Wind @HarrisonWind
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s reportedly heading to the Magic on a 3-year, $66 million deal. The sense I had gotten over the last few days was that KCP was most likely gone, and the Nuggets had accepted that and moved on.
Here’s where Denver’s at:
thednvr.com/nuggets-free-a… – 7:34 PM

Paul Garcia @PaulGarciaNBA
The Magic could still have ~$29.1 million in cap space after reaching an agreement with KCP. – 7:32 PM

Sam Quinn @SamQuinnCBS
Losing KCP for nothing is an enormous blow for Denver. I feel like their only paths to legitimately replace him are going to involve trading the 2031 pick, which I’d do for the right guy, but my sense is they won’t want to. – 7:31 PM

Evan Dunlap @BQRMagic
Thre for $66m for KCP in Orlando, per Woj. Hollinger’s BORD$ has him rated as worth $27m for this season, so AAV checks out. Would seem to take Magic out of Paul George running. – 7:30 PM

Cameron Tabatabaie @CTabatabaie
The Nuggets are owned by some of the richest people on planet earth, if they don’t have a plan to replace KCP, that is so, so, so disappointing – 7:27 PM

Ryan Blackburn @NBABlackburn
Sounds like KCP is heading to Orlando on a big contract. Unlikely the Nuggets can get a S&T out of it with as much cap space as they’ve freed up, but we will see. – 7:26 PM

Jeff Zillgitt @JeffZillgitt
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope leaving the Denver Nuggets and headed to the Orlando Magic on a three-year deal, I’m told. – 7:23 PM

Ryan Blackburn @NBABlackburn
After playing around with different scenarios based on info and rumors, I’m of the opinion that whether this Nuggets team becomes “better” hinges on whether or not they can get something back for KCP.
Denver will have the TP MLE. They can make a Zeke trade (for Micic or someone – 4:39 PM

Michael Scotto @MikeAScotto
Reporting on free agents LeBron James, Paul George, Klay Thompson, Isaiah Hartenstein, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Haywood Highsmith, Caleb Martin, Tyus Jones, Spencer Dinwiddie, Taurean Prince, and Brandon Ingram and Cam Johnson trade talks on @hoopshype. hoopshype.com/lists/nba-rumo… – 2:41 PM

Harrison Wind @HarrisonWind
What will the Nuggets do in free agency?
I expect them to add two rotation-ready veterans at their biggest positions of need: Point guard and center to back up Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic.
Also, my read on Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s future.
thednvr.com/nuggets-free-a… – 7:03 AM

Ryan Blackburn @NBABlackburn
NEW for @MileHighSports
DeAndre Jordan will be back in the Mile High City on a one-year deal.
The Nuggets have reportedly signed 12 players.
3 roster spots are open, while KCP, Vlatko, and Holiday remain free agents.
milehighsports.com/veteran-deandr… – 11:26 PM

Sam Quinn @SamQuinnCBS
My guess is that Paul George kind of grinds a lot of league business to a halt these next few days.
Like, Hartenstein and KCP sort of need PG’s situation to settle because they’ve been linked to Orlando and Philly. And other guys need THEM to settle, and so on, and so on. – 4:52 PM

Bobby Marks: Orlando with KCP pic.twitter.com/EQ1y1vXfRm -via Twitter @BobbyMarks42 / June 30, 2024

Tony Jones: Denver offered KCP a salary pretty similar to what he ended up getting from Orlando and I’m told the Nuggets offered three years. The Nuggets definitely tried here -via Twitter @Tjonesonthenba / June 30, 2024

NBA on ESPN: “If you can be in a tough spot with Nikola Jokic, Denver is kind of in a bit of a tough spot right now.” 😳 @WindhorstESPN on why the Denver Nuggets can’t afford to miss out this offseason after losing KCP to the Magic 👀 pic.twitter.com/8UxiQfNI5a -via Twitter @ESPNNBA / June 30, 2024