July 25, 2026
Isaiah J. Downing/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope knows LeBron James very well.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a 13-year NBA veteran and a starter on two championship-winning teams, intends to reunite with LeBron James and join the Sixers upon securing a buyout from the Memphis Grizzlies, according to a report from Chris Haynes.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Memphis Grizzlies are negotiating a buyout and the veteran 3-&-D specialist intends to team back up with LeBron James and sign with the Philadelphia 76ers, league sources tell me. pic.twitter.com/938uLLvV2g
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 25, 2026
Caldwell-Pope, 33, was a key part of the 2022-23 Denver Nuggets team which won a championship. Three years prior, he held a very similar role for a title-winning Los Angeles Lakers team which was spearheaded by James. A client of Klutch Sports, Caldwell-Pope was sent to Memphis in last offseason's Desmond Bane trade, and on an expiring contract appeared to be the most obvious summer buyout candidate in the NBA.
A prototypical 3&D role player, Caldwell-Pope shot 36.9 percent from beyond the arc across the first 11 years of his career. But he has struggled mightily over the last two seasons, shooting just 33.3 percent from long range.
In order to sign James, the Sixers will need to shed some salary, likely by waiving one of two players on their roster signed to deals without fully-guaranteed salaries, Jabari Walker and Dalen Terry. In order to add Caldwell-Pope to the mix, they will need to shed more money, either by waiving the second of those two players or trading a current member of their roster. Johni Broome, the No. 35 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft whose rookie season was both uneventful and ominous, could be a candidate there if the Sixers believe Walker or Terry is too valuable to let go.
Walker is clearly an NBA-caliber player, as he showed as a fringe rotation piece for the Sixers last year. Waiving Terry and keeping Walker would have seemed like an easy decision. Should the Sixers put pen to paper on a deal with Caldwell-Pope, they will likely have to decide between waiving Walker and trading Broome or another player lower on the roster.
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