Kentavious Tannell Caldwell-Pope (; born February 18, 1993), also known by his initials KCP, is an American professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was named a McDonald's All-American as one of the top high school basketball players in the class of 2011. He played college basketball for two years with the Georgia Bulldogs in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and was voted the SEC Player of the Year as a sophomore in 2013.
Caldwell-Pope was selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons. He played four seasons with the Pistons before joining the Lakers as a free agent in 2017–18. He won his first NBA championship with the Lakers in 2020. He spent a season with the Washington Wizards after having been traded there from the Lakers in August 2021, and was then subsequently traded to the Nuggets in July 2022, where he won his second NBA championship in 2023.
High school career
Caldwell-Pope was a highly heralded player in high school. As a senior, he averaged 31 points and 8.2 rebounds per game at Greenville High School in Greenville, Georgia. He led the Patriots to the State Class A Final Four in 2011 and to consecutive Sweet 16 berths in 2009–10.
He was named to several prominent high school All-America teams as a senior, including being selected to play in the 2011 McDonald's All-American Game and the Jordan Brand Classic.
As a senior, he was rated the nation's No. 3 shooting guard prospect, the No. 12 prospect overall, by recruiting analysts for Rivals.com.
Caldwell-Pope chose Georgia to play for Mark Fox and Cody Anderson over scholarship offers from Alabama, Florida State, Georgia Tech, and Tennessee among others.
College career
As a freshman, Caldwell-Pope was named to the Coaches' Freshman All-SEC Team, which also included NBA lottery picks Bradley Beal, Anthony Davis, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. His highest output as a freshman was 25 points against Ole Miss, which was the most by a UGA freshman in almost 13 years. As a sophomore, Caldwell-Pope was named SEC Player of the Year after averaging 18.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. In his final collegiate game, he scored a career-high 32 points and 13 rebounds in a loss against LSU at the SEC tournament in Nashville. He declared for the NBA draft after the season.
Professional career
Detroit Pistons (2013–2017)
On June 27, 2013, Caldwell-Pope was selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons. He later joined the Pistons for the 2013 NBA Summer League and signed his rookie scale contract with the team on July 19. On April 16, 2014, he scored a then-career-high 30 points in a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In July 2014, Caldwell-Pope rejoined the Pistons for the 2014 NBA Summer League, where he averaged 24.0 points and 7.4 rebounds in five games. Head coach Stan Van Gundy quickly assessed Caldwell-Pope as his best perimeter defender and he wound up leading the Pistons in minutes played with 2,587. Caldwell-Pope got better after the All-Star break, largely thanks to the acquisition of point guard Reggie Jackson; post All-Star Break, Caldwell-Pope averaged 14.3 points per game. He finished the season with 153 three-point shots made, 70 more than the closest Pistons player. He tied Kevin Love for 16th in the NBA.
On December 16, 2015, Caldwell-Pope scored a then career-high 31 points in a 119–116 win over the Boston Celtics. He helped the Pistons finish the 2015–16 regular season with a 44–38 record, which was good for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. The Pistons thus qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2009. In the first round of the playoffs, the Pistons faced the first-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, and in a Game 1 loss on April 17, Caldwell-Pope scored a team-high 21 points. The Pistons went on to lose the series 4–0.