Shooting Guard
Starter: Kentavius Caldwell-Pope
Depth: Josh Hart, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk
In an offseason where the Lakers signed Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson and JaVale McGee to contracts to play professional basketball in the 2018-19 season, the most head-scratching move that the organization made was re-signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. There’s at least speculation that this had to do with Caldwell-Pope being a Klutch Sports guy and the organization wanting to take care of LeBron James’ people.
Regardless of why it happened, Caldwell-Pope is coming back to Los Angeles for another year and will likely be the starter. While the 2013 eighth-overall pick enjoyed arguably the best season of his five-year career in the 2017-18 season with LA, that’s still frustrating to see given Josh Hart sitting behind him on the depth chart at shooting guard.
When given the opportunity as a rookie last season, Hart shined with 46.9 percent shooting from the field and 39.6 percent shooting from 3-point range. While he wasn’t an elite defender by any stretch, he also showcased that he can hold his own on that end. And all of this was shown tenfold as he dominated the lesser competition of Summer League this offseason.
There is tremendous upside, it would seem, as it pertains to Hart. He could potentially be another steal that is now a huge asset for this team either on the court or in a possible future deal. However, that’s harder to sell if he’s stuck behind Caldwell-Pope playing huge minutes.
Let’s just hope that, as the year progresses, we see more of Hart and he’s not stuck in a role like the minimal one that sharp-shooting Svi Mykhailiuk will likely play off the bench this season, when at the NBA level.