Few players in the NBA can say they played with two of the all-time greats as LeBron James And Nikola Jokić, but Kentavious Caldwell-Pape Caldwell-Pope was a starter on both the The Los Angeles Lakers team that won the championship in 2020 and the Denver Nuggets team that was crowned champion in 2023, and interestingly, the two teams met in the Western Conference Finals in those seasons.
LeBron and Jokic are two of the best passers in the NBA They’ve always been the best players in history, especially for their size, and they make life a lot easier for their teammates with their high IQs and ability to create wide-open shots. Caldwell-Pope has benefited greatly from playing with both players and sees many similarities between them.
Caldwell-Pope recently revealed that the Nuggets The Lakers should have beaten them last season, as they led at halftime in every game. The Lakers also led by double digits in three of their four losses, but they just couldn’t hold on to their lead, and while most people would just say the better team won, apparently even the winners aren’t sure that’s the case.
What did Caldwell-Pope say about LeBron and Jokic?
Caldwell-Pope recently appeared on “The Draymond Green Show” and praised LeBron and Jokic for making the game much easier and improving his career by playing with them on the Lakers and Nuggets, respectively: “You see Bron on the ball most of the time, he brings the ball up, even though Jokic can do the same thing, point five. Both guys, man, they demand attention the minute they put the ball in play and I just took that as a cue. I knew those guys were going to have so much attention on them and either I was going to get a wide open shot or we were going to create a wide open shot and now the defense has to move because somebody’s open… What made it so much easier, and that’s why I say I don’t see a difference between the two of them, their IQs are off the charts.”.”
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope #5 of the Denver Nuggets drives against D’Angelo Russell #1 of the Los Angeles Lakers on an interception by Nikola Jokic #15 in the third quarter during Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round playoff series at Ball Arena. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
“They can shoot and they have a complete game. I would say what made me successful playing with them was that they were ready to pass the ball when you got open. No matter what type of pass it is, if you got open, they’re going to try to pass it to you. All I had to do was be ready to shoot. Credit to those two guys, they made my career better later on in my years. They’re my brothers.” Caldwell-Pope added.
While there are some physical differences between the two, the similarities in how they see the game and control everything with their vision and passing certainly stand out. For Caldwell-Pope, what sets him apart is his willingness and ability to pass the ball from any angle on the pitch, using either hand.
At that point, as he said, all Caldwell-Pope had to do was be ready to shoot when the ball came and he always was, so he was an integral part of the team. Lakers and the Nuggets championships.
