Los Angeles Lakers: Josh Hart is forcing a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope trade

Josh Hart has been great for the Los Angeles Lakers this season which is not great news for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

Heading into the 2018-2019 NBA season, we all knew that Josh Hart was the better all-around shooting guard on the Los Angeles Lakers and that he was a key part of the team’s future.

We also knew that Luke Walton would likely start Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the beginning of the season due to his fit on paper with LeBron James. We all knew that Hart would be starting every game at shooting guard at some point.

Hart has started three games this season and has only started that few because the Lakers are playing Kyle Kuzma and moving Brandon Ingram to the two. That has not slowed Hart down either.

While he has had some bad games, Hart has been relatively good this year. Wednesday night’s contest against the Minnesota Timberwolves only helped his case as Hart looked like the best player on the court at times.

He was absolute lights out from beyond the arc, making five of his seven attempts. That led to Hart finishing with 21 points and four rebounds in just 21 minutes of play.

Meanwhile, Caldwell-Pope logged just 13 minutes and had a far less notable night. Caldwell-Pope scored just five points on 2-4 shooting and went 1-3 from the beyond the arc. He also snagged one rebound.

While Caldwell-Pope is a decent three and D guy at times, he really does not serve this team as more than a sharpshooter. The only problem is that he is not necessarily a sharpshooter and Hart is better at that job.

I expected this to be the case before the season and thought it would lead to Nikola Vucevic (although that will probably not happen now with Tyson Chandler). Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will undoubtedly be traded at the deadline because of Josh Hart.

The Lakers can use KCP as a contract piece alongside a young player for a significant upgrade if that is the route the team wants to take. Also, the team could swap his expiring deal for a different player with an expiring deal that can actually help plug holes in this team.

Caldwell-Pope is not plugging any holes and Hart has done everything in his power to establish separation between himself and KCP. This is working nicely for Hart, whose stock is way up at the same time as KCP’s is way down.

Josh Hart playing so good will lead the Los Angeles Lakers to trade Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. There is not a doubt in my mind.