Serious threat emerging to steal Kentavious Caldwell-Pope away from Nuggets

We’re now officially almost a week into the NBA offseason and things on the free agency front are already heating up. We’ve seen players signed already such as Pascal Siakam and Malik Monk returning to the Pacers and Kings respectively and coming off the board.

We’ve seen a big trade go down with Alex Caruso and Josh Giddey swapping places. And we’ve seen splash coach hirings with the Lakers poaching JJ Redick away from the ESPN broadcast booth.

But rumors have also been steadily trickling in about other players who may be on the move this summer. One of the biggest names in that arena is Paul George who still has not agreed to an extension with the Clippers and may become an unrestricted free agent later this month.

76ers going big-game hunting this offseason

The team to watch has been the 76ers, who have over $60 million in cap space and are dying to add talent around Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. George was rumored to be their top choice, but Shams Charania of the Athletic reported that the team’s interest has “waned” recently. Perhaps that’s the case, or perhaps they just got an indication that George is unlikely to sign in Philadelphia.

Either way, it appears the Sixers will need to make other plans for spending their cap room. And apparently one of those backup plans may be throwing a big offer at current Nugget, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. KCP is expected to decline his $15.4 million player option and become an unrestricted free agent at which point he’s expected to be coveted by contenders.

Unfortunately for the Nuggets, this move would make almost too much sense for Philly, as KCP would be a great fit between their two stars and they’d still have money to add more pieces. Zach Lowe of ESPN reported on the Lowe Post podcast that the Sixers would have interest in making a run at KCP and that was before the news on PG even dropped.

This is just yet another sign that it’s going to be a very tough offseason in Denver. We knew there would be suitors for KCP and he would be tough to retain, but we’re still a week out from free agency and this is looking more and more like an uphill battle.