Los Angeles Lakers Continues To Talk Trades Involving Talen Horton-Tucker
The Lakers’ struggles this season are not only because of injuries to Anthony Davis and LeBron James, but also due to the fact that their secondary talent does not fit their system. The last few seasons, Los Angeles has been one of the best defensive teams and one of the better transition teams in the league, but that has not been the case this season.
They are still a fairly strong fast break scoring team, however, the Lakers rank just 16th in the league in defensive rating and really do not have the right supporting cast around their three All-Stars.
In the offseason, the Lakers re-signed Talen Horton-Tucker to a new three-year, $30.7M deal due to the upside he showed both near the end of last season and throughout the offseason.
Being just 21-years-old, this upside certainly still remains for Horton-Tucker, but the Lakers do not have time to wait around given that they want to contend for a championship right now and as a result, they have been talking with several teams about possibly trading Talen Horton-Tucker.
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There is some level of interest around the league in exploring a Horton-Tucker trade, but compared to other players from his draft class, his recent contract that he signed with the Lakers could be problematic in trade talks.
Not only is he making $9.5M this season, but his contract is set to increase by close to $1M each season through the 2023-24 season, in which he has a player option for and could potentially opt out of to become an unrestricted free agent in 2023.
There is a lot of risk for a team that has a level of interest in trading for Talen Horton-Tucker this season, making things even more complicated for the Los Angeles Lakers as the trade deadline approaches.
Kendrick Nunn, another young offseason signing of the Lakers, is also said to be available in trade talks, but the Lakers are only interested in moving Nunn should they get a good return in a trade package involving both he and Horton-Tucker this season.
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The Los Angeles Lakers should once again be a playoff team in the Western Conference, but their chances of winning another title have greatly taken a hit due to injuries and the fact that their supporting cast is very weak on both ends of the floor.
