How much does Kentavious Caldwell-Pope have left in the tank? An Orlando Magic beat writer weighs in.

A wild 76ers offseason has finally settled, after they stunningly signed LeBron James and traded for Jaylen Brown to vault into championship contender status.

To help Sixers followers get acquainted with the newcomers on this revamped roster, The Inquirer reached out to reporters who covered those players on their previous teams.

Next up is The Orlando Sentinel’s Jason Beede, who covered veteran 3-and-D wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope during his 2024-25 stint with the Orlando Magic, where he played before joining the Memphis Grizzlies via trade for the 2025-26 season.

Gina Mizell: Given that you saw up close how the Magic’s praised 2024 signing of Caldwell-Pope did not work out as anticipated, what should the Sixers reasonably expect out of him at this point in his career? Why didn’t it work out with a win-now Orlando team, after championship-winning stints with the Nuggets and Lakers?

Jason Beede: Given where Caldwell-Pope is at in his career and the amount of talent on the Sixers’ roster, I would anticipate him to be a trustworthy bench piece who can also start in a pinch. He actually remained relatively healthy during his one year with the Magic (started in all of his 77 regular season appearances) but only played 51 games this past season with the Grizzlies, starting just 14. I think one of the main reasons it didn’t work out with the Magic is that the fit wasn’t quite right. Orlando needed KCP’s toughness on defense and championship experience in the locker room but the team required more shooting from him.

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To be sure, all of Orlando’s offensive issues certainly did not fall on KCP, but he also wasn’t as much of a solution from three-point range as they had hoped. With Philadelphia, if KCP can return to being a true 3-and-D veteran piece off the bench and consistently knock down his looks from distance while offering stout defense, he can be an underrated part of the roster. Playing alongside LeBron James again and joining forces with the likes of Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid, generating those looks for KCP shouldn’t be too challenging on a nightly basis. He just has to hit them.

GM: What most contributed to his shooting drop-off with the Magic, besides no longer receiving open looks while playing off Nikola Jokic?

JB: It didn’t help anyone on Orlando’s roster, but especially a newcomer like Caldwell-Pope, that, five games into his first and only season with the Magic, All-Star forward Paolo Banchero suffered an oblique injury that kept him off the court for multiple months. Then Franz Wagner missed a stretch of 20 games because of the same injury, and eventually Jalen Suggs was shut down at the start of February 2025 because of a knee injury.

Orlando’s opening night starting lineup of Banchero, Wagner, Suggs, Caldwell-Pope and Wendell Carter Jr. only played six total games together (82 minutes) across the 2024-25 season. Without the starting lineup together regularly, Caldwell-Pope found himself needing to adjust to tons of different lineups throughout the season, and I’m not sure if he ever grew comfortable with finding his shot in Orlando’s offense because of that.

To his credit, he shot 39.2% from three-point range across the final 44 games of the season. But for the season overall, he still shot his worst three-point percentage (34.2%) since his third season in the NBA (30.9% in 2015-16 with Detroit).

GM: Where do you think that championship experience will most rub off on these Sixers? How frequently did he reference/talk about his time playing alongside James, and what did he share about that experience?

JB: I would say Caldwell-Pope’s championship experience will show up down the stretch of the regular season and into the postseason the most. I remember during Orlando’s first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics, in 2025, that Caldwell-Pope turned his toughness up a notch and seemingly became a villain on the court in the eyes of Boston fans because of the way he was defending against guys like Brown and Jayson Tatum.

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I don’t believe KCP is a big “rah-rah” speech sort of guy, but rather lets his play and demeanor speak for itself. He understands his role on a team and he’ll work his hardest at what’s asked of him. As for his relationship with James, I don’t personally remember him talking about it a lot. I also am not sure if we asked him about James a ton either. But I do recall him talking about his championship experience, especially with his teammates. Some of the guys, including Banchero, referred to KCP as “champ” in the locker room, and it was clear they respected and listened to him when he did speak up to the group.

GM: Besides James, are there any Sixers teammates/lineups/etc. you think Caldwell-Pope’s skill set will complement particularly well in his expected bench role?

JB: This might not be the flashiest answer, but I’m curious to see how often Caldwell-Pope will play alongside Dean Wade off the bench. I’ve often thought the Magic could use a player like Wade, if not Wade himself, as a veteran power forward that fits what they like.

Both players are tough-nosed, gritty defenders and have the ability to knock down open threes when given the chance. Of course, Wade has been more consistent at that in recent years, but those two players next to each other could provide the Sixers with a spark off the bench on both sides of the floor. The two can help space the floor and set the tone on the defensive end of the court.

GM: How else would you describe Caldwell-Pope as a teammate and locker-room presence?

JB: KCP was a great teammate for a young Magic squad, and while he won’t be remembered fondly in Orlando, I think he’ll be welcomed back with open arms by a lot of his former teammates when Philadelphia comes to town. For context, he actually attended one of Orlando’s playoff games against the Pistons this past postseason (another Eastern Conference team he played for at the start of his career) and he sat courtside for the game at Kia Center.

For a number of reasons, it just didn’t work out for him with the Magic. That said, Caldwell-Pope is a great person with a beautiful family who will provide a key perspective on how to be a good person and a great player that lasts long in this league for the Sixers locker room. His performance on the court will determine how successful his reunion with James will ultimately be, but I have no doubt he’ll contribute in more ways than one in Philadelphia, even when his shot isn’t falling.