The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly shopping Talen Horton-Tucker in trade talks, according to Dan Woike and Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times.
The 21-year-old wing is in his third season, but the growth the Lakers expected hasn’t materialized, although there have been glimpses.
With the Lakers grappling with a .500 record past the halfway mark of the season and head coach Frank Vogel’s seat getting warmer, the team is shopping Horton-Tucker:
Meanwhile, the Lakers are trying to find help, though their options appear limited. According to people with knowledge of the situation, the team is shopping 21-year-old Talen Horton-Tucker in trade discussions. Rival general managers believe the Lakers value Horton-Tucker, but they lack the mid-range contracts needed to put together a deal to upgrade their roster and understand no significant trade is getting made without him.
The Lakers don’t have a palatable salary sheet to make significant trades. The situation was already difficult heading into the 2021 offseason, but acquiring Russell Westbrook’s $40 million contract made it even tougher.
Horton-Tucker signed a three-year extension this summer worth just north of $10 million, so he makes the most of any Laker not named LeBron James, Anthony Davis or Westbrook. A team will have to value Horton-Tucker’s potential for a trade to happen, so it’ll be interesting to see if L.A. pulls the trigger on a player it drafted a few seasons ago.
