11:04am: The Pistons are renouncing Caldwell-Pope, which will make him an unrestricted free agent, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The timing of the move is interested, since the Nets’ cap room may be tied up for several days as they wait for official word from the Wizards on Porter. We’ll see if Caldwell-Pope waits on Brooklyn or quickly pursues a deal with another team.
11:02am: In the wake of their trade agreement for Avery Bradley, the Pistons are prepared to move on from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, reports Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link). According to Ellis, Detroit is looking to add “two more guys” to its roster. But Caldwell-Pope may not be one of them.
[RELATED: Celtics to trade Avery Bradley to Pistons]
Talks between the Pistons and Caldwell-Pope haven’t progressed so far, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN tweeted earlier today. Windhorst noted that there’s a possibility Detroit will pull Caldwell-Pope’s offer and make him an unrestricted free agent. While that hasn’t happened yet, it doesn’t look like the Pistons will match a big offer sheet for KCP.
Caldwell-Pope, 24, is viewed as one of the top two-way wings left on the market, but the qualifying offer he received from the Pistons gives Detroit the opportunity to match any offer sheet he signed. However, having added Langston Galloway, Eric Moreland, and Bradley, the Pistons have upwards of $109MM in salary commitments and have a hard cap of $125.266MM.
While Caldwell-Pope may not receive a maximum salary deal, any offer worth more than about half the max would put the Pistons in a tough spot. And with Galloway and Bradley now in the mix, the team’s need for another guard has diminished — especially since Bradley can provide the sort of three-point shooting and defense that KCP did.
A report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski earlier today suggested that the Pistons may be aggressive in trying to extend Bradley, but the club’s cap situation limits its ability to make a competitive offer. Ellis (Twitter link) hears from a source that Bradley won’t do an in-season extension since the money is too low, but the team still hopes to have him long term in Detroit. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent next summer and the Pistons will hold his Bird rights.
Whether or not Caldwell-Pope’s qualifying offer is rescinded by the Pistons, it may make sense for his camp to wait to see what happens with the Nets and Otto Porter. The Wizards are expected to match Brooklyn’s offer sheet for Porter, and Caldwell-Pope may be next up on the Nets’ wish list.
i wouldnt mind seeing the bulls pursue him… but idk if garpax can handle a deal that big
To start over Lavine?
Sure he’s no guarantee with the ACL injury and I think Lavine may be best used as an electric 6th man anyway.
Pistons will love Bradley — if he can stay on the court. Great payer and a better person.
Player lol
Watch for the Hawks. With Hardaway Jr signing an offer with the Knicks I wouldn’t be surprised if they let him walk and go after Caldwell-Pope. Kentavious is a year younger and a better defender
This would be a homecoming for KCP too. ATL is a definite possibility if they can swing a max deal.
Agreed. No way they match the THJ offer. KCP gets maybe the 4/52 Waiters did.
Knicks will be on the right track with Hardaway Jr, he went off against Houston in one game. He’s got a killer instinct.
I know for a fact the Lakers won’t get KCP
He’s to good and the Lakers are looking for scraps!
There is not a lot of teams with cap space left, and if the nets pick up porter it wouldn’t surprise me if the lakers grabbed him.
He’d have to take a 1 year balloon deal to join the Lakers, not sure if KCP is willing to do that. Too much at stake.
I am so happy about this. I’d much rather give Bradley a max deal at the end of next year then KCP one now. KCP has potential, but he screams Ben Gordon all over again to me.
It would funny to see him land with the Celtics. He would have to take a major pay cut which probably won’t happen. But that would be funny. If that happened it would basically be Bradley and a future 2nd for KCP and Morris.
It would be kinda funny, but there’s no chance of that happening so it doesn’t even make sense to speculate about
Pacers or Mavericks can make him a nice offer, not to mention either would be good fits.
KCP is definitely not a max caliber player and cap is somewhat limited around the league right now
Mavericks are trying to bring Noel back, I can see the hawks signing KCP
Sixers offer him 3 or 4 years at 15 per. If he gets more than Allen Crabbe I’d be surprised. Nets just threw out an absurd contract not expecting Portland to match.
He’s from my hometown in Thomaston, GA so I’d love to see him in Atlanta but it’s not gonna happen
If the Nets or Kings offer a max deal, then no way, he’ll take the money. If he doesn’t get one of those offers, I could see him going to ATL to replace TH2. The Lakers could be in the mix too, but they would offer less than ATL could.
This is a dumb move, they lost leverage they held towards extracting something from him in a sign and trade, they are basically doing him a favor hear just to be nice or else they just 100% don’t want him on their team next year and don’t want to risk him accepting the qualifying offer.