Talen Horton-Tucker – Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers have really struggled this season and a large part of their struggles is because their front office made some terrible roster decisions in the offseason.
Before he even put on a Lakers’ uniform, Russell Westbrook was a terrible fit in L.A. and after giving Talen Horton-Tucker a three-year, $30.7M deal, the Lakers were left with an even high tax bill.
Now having no cap space, no appealing, tradable assets on hand, and being just 23-23 on the season, the Lakers are in big trouble this season. They should be able to make the playoffs given that the bottom of the Western Conference is weak, but calling this team a “championship contender” right now is very generous.
They have looked nothing like a contending team in this league, which is why GM Rob Pelinka and the Lakers’ front-office will be super aggressive in trying to switch things up at the trade deadline. Finding a way to trade Russell Westbrook has about a 0.0001% success rate if they can convince the Rockets to do another John Wall-Russell Westbrook swap, but moving Talen Horton-Tucker for value seems reasonable to believe.
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Los Angeles does like Talen Horton-Tucker as a future asset on their roster and the 21-year-old shooting guard has shown value from time to time, but he does not present an immediate path to being a championship contender this season.
The Lakers need “win-now” guys on their roster, which is something Horton-Tucker is not right now. The problem with trading Talen Horton-Tucker though, and possibly Kendrick Nunn as well, is not only finding a team to take him but finding value from the team that is willing to trade for him.
He is their only way of adding more value to their roster ahead of the trade deadline given that they are a tax-paying team this season and nothing has been said about teams being interested in Talen Horton-Tucker and his salary.
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The Orlando Magic could possibly be a team interested given that they have veterans in Terrence Ross and Gary Harris that are on the trade block and it is possible that the Lakers could continue their pursuit of Pistons’ forward Jerami Grant by leveraging Talen Horton-Tucker.
Anthony Davis being out with a sprained left MCL definitely has not helped the Lakers’ chances of being great this season, but their roster is not currently constructed to be a threat. Too many guys on their roster do not fit in right now and as a result, Los Angeles has the most to lose at the trade deadline this season.
