The "other" reason Kentavious Caldwell Pope is likely to return next season

From the moment Kentavious Caldwell-Pope arrived in LA like "Manna from Heaven", fans and commentators alike noted the link between Pope and LeBron James, their common agent Rich Paul, and his agency Klutch Sports, which, I've heard, James helped create.

And, in fact, when LBJ did come last summer many felt that keeping KCP on the roster for another year was essentially a LeBron tax paid to Klutch. (Brushes hands together like a Blackjack Dealer)

After the Anthony Davis trade, it is undoubtedly this same reasoning that is leading many, including ESPN's Brian Windhorst, to immediately start joking about KCP getting the Room exemption to return to LA next year. All joking aside, this may not be as far-fetched as it seems. Not for the obvious reason stated above, but for another "reason" altogether.

(If you want to skip my ‘reasoning' and jump right to "the reason" itself, simply scroll down to the final section of this post. Otherwise, please continue.)

As we all know, there are only three ways for a team to add players: the draft, trades, and free agency. However, because of various limitations LA will face going forward, the first two may prove rather difficult, and the third is not much better.

The Draft:

The New Orleans Pelicans own or at least partially control many of the Lakers first round draft picks going forward, which not only limits the number and quality of players LA's ace draft-evaluators can add each June, but because of the Stepien Rule that prevents trading away future pick rights in consecutive years, it is impossible for the front office to trade the rights to any picks they do end up with during the season.

For example, LA owns their upcoming 2020 1st round pick free and clear, but cannot include it in any deal until that particular draft is finished, since the Pelicans partially control their 2021 1st rounder. They could agree to trade it sometime right before the draft and then wait until afterwards to complete the deal, like they did with this year's pick, but as far as any in-season improvement, LA is basically blocked by either New Orleans or cba rules, from using future draft pick rights in trades until 2024 or 2025.

Speaking of...

Trades:

One of the best arguments I've read for splitting whatever cap space LA ends up with across multiple players, aside from rotation depth, is how it would affect the possibility of player movement going forward.

Say, for instance, the Lakers do finagle max space and then spend it on a guy like Kemba Walker?

Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer thinks it would work great, but if the defensively-challenged Walker loses a measurable portion of his offensive value in a third-option role, then Lakers GM Rob Pelinka may find trading him down the line while also hoping to improve the team particularly difficult.

In fact, in any scenario where a third max player is the only sizable contract on the books besides those of LBJ and AD, then that lack of middle-sized contracts (along with the above-discussed draft pick trade restrictions) would make in-season trades even more difficult as well.

This is clearly a worthy gamble for Kawhi Leonard, but may not be for someone like Walker, or dare I say it, Kyrie Irving, who both need to provide high-level offense to maintain their overall value.

(As deadly as Irving is, this is not the 2015-2016 Cleveland Cavaliers, and AD is no Kevin Love, so Kyrie would almost definitely be 3rd in line, at least until if/when LeBron takes a step back.)

This leaves only one route for LA to regularly improve the team over Anthony Davis' expected 6-year tenure.

Free Agency:

After this year's cap space is used, LA will probably be operating as an over the cap team for at least the next two or three years going forward, and probably more.

This means that next year they will most likely have the full MLE, the bi-annual exemption, and then minimums after that. Future off-seasons project to be even tighter, with some probably limited to the just the Tax Payer MLE and minimums, especially once Kyle Kuzma is off of his rookie contract.

This all brings us back to the very real possibility of one more year of KCP.

The "other" reason LA seems likely to keep KCP:

Because of the back to back one year contracts Pope signed, he is only one year away from LA attaining his Full Bird Rights, allowing them to sign him to any amount regardless of their cap status as soon as next summer. For a team that looks be capped out for the foreseeable future, Bird Rights are one of the few ways management will have to resign a player above a minimum deal.

For all of his exposed limitations, I think KCP probably still projects to be a borderline rotation-level, two-way shooting guard, and is most assuredly worth more than the minimum, especially at his current age of 26. (He turns 27 mid-season, a few weeks before AD turns 27, meaning both players are just now entering their prime.)

If LA adds a point guard like Kyrie Irving or Kemba Walker with the max, (or even D'Angelo Russell, which needs to happen for entertainment purposes alone), or they split the money between one of Patrick Beverly or Darren Collison or even Cory Joseph, another Klutch client, and then add a starting level two guard like Danny Green, who is clearly better than Pope, I still wouldn't be surprised if KCP gets the Room Exemption to come off the bench for one year alongside Alex Caruso (please no Rondo), thereby affording LA his full Bird Rights in the summer of 2020.

As mentioned above the team will most likely enter that summer's free agency with only the MLE, Bi-Annual and minimums, so the ability to pay a then-aged 27 KCP a decent contract even as a bench player may end up being more valuable long-term than, say, spending the room exemption this summer on a better shooter like Wayne Ellington, or a better-than-minimum center.

(Random prediction: JaVale McGee finds basically no market, and returns to LA for a two year guaranteed deal at the veteran's minimum. #JugLife)

Sure, if someone like Seth Curry or Terrence Ross settles for the $4.8 then you do it, but if it is a choice between say JaVale or KCP, future Bird Rights on Pope may end up being the tiebreaker.

Note: If the full max is acquired and then spent on a wing like Kawhi or Jimmy Butler, then I think all of this is moot and KCP will most likely be gone, as the Room exemption would almost definitely need to be used on a point guard in that situation.

Another Note: If KCP gets a much bigger offer somewhere else this is all moot as well. But after his performance last year, I'm not sure there is a contract measurably higher than $5 or $6 million waiting out there.

In the end, it appears from the comments section that many if not most SS&R community members are done with the KCP experiment, and feel the team's limited spending power could be better used elsewhere, particularly shooting. It's a legitimate point, especially following a down year for the once young and promising shooting guard, not to mention the three point bricklaying by last year's squad.

Nonetheless, along with his obvious connection to LBJ and AD, I think having Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's Full Bird Rights next summer, as he is entering his prime, may end up being the "other" reason LA keeps him this summer, whether we all agree with it or not.