After he was involved in the blockbuster Russell Westbrook trade this summer, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has gotten off to a great start in his first season with the Washington Wizards. Suffice it to say, it didn't continue on Saturday night against the Utah Jazz.
Not only did Caldwell-Pope finish with zero points on 0-for-5 shooting and two turnovers in the Wizards' 123-98 loss, he submitted a candidate for blooper of the year with one of the strangest missed dunks you'll ever see.
In the middle of the third quarter, Caldwell-Pope caught the ball in the corner and had the angle for a baseline drive on Joe Ingles. He blew by the veteran Jazz forward and appeared to have a clear path to the rim. But as he took off from just inside the paint, he lost track of where he was on the floor and slammed the ball right into the side of the backboard.
You really have to watch the replay from the baseline to get a better idea of just how funny this was.
Not sure where KCP was trying to dunk this. 😅😅 @shaqtin pic.twitter.com/JFHNAjIQas
— House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) December 12, 2021
Caldwell-Pope simply shook his head as he walked off the floor, and took a seat on the bench with a forlorn look in his eyes. As if that dunk attempt wasn't bad enough, he also had a floater attempt go up and over the backboard in the first half for another comical miss. Moments like that are enough to make you contemplate if you even still like basketball. Knowing you're about to get clowned in the group chat and on social media certainly doesn't help either.
But while Caldwell-Pope was understandably frustrated in the moment, hopefully he'll be able to laugh it off in time, because this truly was one of the funniest and most bizarre plays we've seen in a long time. Guys have gotten dunks blocked by the rim, but the side of the backboard is a new one.
