Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, or KCP for short, has had a rough start to his third season as a member of the L.A. Lakers. After averaging double figures in each of his last two seasons, he's now averaging a paltry 5.3 points per game. In 2017 he played 33 minutes per game, and in 2018 he played 24. Eleven games into this season, he's playing only 19 minutes per, a number Laker fans actually wish was lower.
It's been so bad for KCP that the new thing on Twitter is to say "arrest KCP immediately" when he makes a poor play. Now, his own teammates are laughing at him.
On Wednesday night, the now 9-2 Lakers welcomed in the new, terrible version of the Golden State Warriors and smacked them around for a 120-94 victory. The only negative of the night was the play of poor Caldwell-Pope, who went three for nine from the field and played only 19 minutes. Late in the first quarter, he grabbed an offensive board and went up for what should have been an easy layup, but the ball got stuck against the rim. His teammates couldn't hide their laughter:
Just brutal. Between LeBron putting a towel on his face to pretend he wasn't laughing, Anthony Davis putting his face in his hands and Avery Bradley grabbing Davis' arm, you'd think this was the 12th-man high school player who they gave garbage minutes on senior night. And when he finally got his chance to get a bucket and send the students into a frenzy, he air-balled. Tough crowd.
Twitter was even less kind:
That tweet is in reference to the fact KCP appeared to hurt his ankle after missing another easy layup late in the game:
Fortunately, not all of his teammates feel the same way. Here's Dwight Howard and Alex Caruso defending their guy on Instagram after the game:
Let's hope this guy gets it right. If not, GM LeBron will pack his bags for him.
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