Lakers Kentavious Caldwell-Pope being let out of jail to play in NBA games
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is hardly the only person doing his job these days while on work-release from jail. However, no one else’s job involves playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.
According to a Los Angeles Times report Thursday, Caldwell-Pope is serving a 25-day jail sentence stemming from a March arrest for suspicion of DUI in Auburn Hills, Mich. The fifth-year player, then a member of the Detroit Pistons, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of allowing a person to drive under the influence, and he was given 12 months’ probation.
However, Caldwell-Pope reportedly violated terms of his probation by missing several drug and alcohol screenings, and earlier this month he was sentenced in a Michigan court to spend 25 days in the Oakland County Jail. He filed an emergency petition and was allowed to serve his time at the Seal Beach (Calif.) Detention Center, where he has been staying since last week while being allowed to leave for Lakers games and practices.
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“It has been very disappointing to me as well, as far as my teammates, I feel like I let them down as well, my coaches, the organization,” Caldwell-Pope, 24, said on Saturday after a Lakers practice (via the Times). “I just have to deal with this legal situation that came with it.”
“This is a legal matter, stemming from an incident that occurred last season while Kentavious was a member of another NBA team,” the Lakers said Saturday in a statement. “The Los Angeles Lakers are abiding by the terms of a program for Kentavious that were established for him by a court in the state of Michigan. As such, we will have no further comment at this time.”
After earning a reputation as a solid two-way swingman during his four seasons with the Pistons, who made him the eighth pick in the 2013 draft, Caldwell-Pope signed a one-year, $18 million contract with the Lakers in July. During his free agency, he received permission from a Michigan court to travel for visits with teams and to his home state of Georgia.
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While serving his jail term, Caldwell-Pope is reportedly not allowed to leave the state of California. As such, he was able to play for the Lakers in a Monday loss at home to the Golden State Warriors, in which he scored 14 points in over 41 minutes on the floor. He will be with his team when it stays in-state to visit the Warriors on Friday.
Caldwell-Pope was not with the team in Houston on Wednesday for a win over the Rockets, though, and he is expected to miss upcoming road games at the Portland Trail Blazers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies. According to the Times, when the 6-foot-5, 205-pound Caldwell-Pope leaves the jail, he must wear a GPS monitor and submit to breath tests when he returns. Violations of his current terms could result in a 93-day sentence at the Oakland facility.
Caldwell-Pope began this season with a two-game suspension from the NBA for his arrest. He has started all 25 games for the Lakers in which he has appeared, and is averaging 14.2 points, a career-high 5.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.8 steals in 34.8 minutes per game, with a 12.5 player efficiency rating.
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