LeBron James has advised Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to ignore any outside noise as the Los Angeles Lakers dressing appreciates what he does.
The Lakers have enjoyed a strong start to the new NBA season, with both James and Anthony Davis leading the charge for Frank Vogel’s side.
Kyle Kuzma has also looked strong since returning from injury while the likes of Avery Bradley, Danny Green, Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee have played their part.
Another player getting big minutes is 26-year-old Caldwell-Pope, but he has struggled on the offensive end shooting just 39 per cent from the floor.
Some criticism flowing around on social media prompted Dwight Howard to stick up for his team-mate, calling out the Lakers fans who were not happy with KCP’s performances.
Caldwell-Pope then went on to deliver his best performance of the season in Friday night’s win over the Sacramento Kings, finishing with 16 points.
And James has followed up Howard’s comments on Caldwell-Pope, insisting everybody on the Lakers values what he is doing.
“Me personally, I couldn’t give a damn about what people say outside the locker room and outside our practice facility and outside our plane and team buses,” James said.
“It really don’t matter because it’s just outside noise.
“I’ve heard it my whole career so I really don’t pay attention to it.
“I don’t think anyone should pay attention to it but I think it’s dope that Dwight stuck up for him.
“We all just told him, ‘we don’t care if you make shots but we want you to take them with confidence’. ‘You’re going to get great looks’.
“Myself and AD are going to attract a lot of double teams, Rajon [Rondo] does a great job of getting guys involved as well.
“We want him to just shoot it with confidence and that’s what he did in the fourth quarter.
“But don’t let the game be dictated because if you make or miss shots.
“There’s other ways you can affect the game and he did it on both ends tonight [Friday].”