The Los Angeles Lakers are the best team in the Western Conference after the NBA All-Star break. At 44-12, the Lakers gamble to trade for Anthony Davis has paid off. Los Angeles has already won more games than last season thanks to the unstoppable combination of LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
LeBron has taken over L.A.’s point guard duties and leads the NBA in assists by over 1.5 assists per game. Many of LeBron’s assists come to former Georgia Bulldog great Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
KCP is averaging only 9.6 points per game, but he is doing so at the most efficient clip of his career. KCP is shooting 47% from the field and 40.7% from three point territory this season. Each of these numbers are the best of his seven season NBA career.
The Lakers desperately need Caldwell-Pope’s defense and shooting this postseason. His improved efficiency will be key for the Lakers to watch moving forward.
L.A. elected to stay quiet at the trade deadline, but they need perimeter help, or perimeter players like KCP to emerge. Yes, they recently added Markieff Morris, but they need to take some of the ball-handling pressure off LeBron. KCP can help do that.
KCP will have a significant workload in the NBA postseason, something we haven’t seen out of a Georgia Bulldog in quite sometime. It’ll be fun to watch for UGA fans moving forward!
