Los Angeles Lakers fans have been seeing a lot of Talen Horton-Tucker lately, and that's because the young gun has been playing well. For LeBron James, Horton-Tucker's stellar play can be attributed to him being like a sponge in terms of absorbing lessons on the court.
Per Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet, James heaped praise on Horton-Tucker. From his point of view, the 20-year-old guard possesses a matured basketball mind.
“Does it on both sides of the floor, and then he just listens. He’s a sponge. And he can apply it right away … big time game for a kid that’s still growing into his own, but he’s (beyond) his years,” the Lakers star said of the youngster.
For what it's worth, THT agreed with LeBron and noted how “being a sponge is the most important thing.”
Talen Horton-Tucker: "I always said I just want to learn. I feel like being a sponge is the most important thing you have to do when you are learning, especially with the caliber of guys that we have. Just being a sponge is probably key to doing good things this year." pic.twitter.com/IZOI5LNBTi
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) January 11, 2021
In the Lakers' convincing 120-102 win over the Houston Rockets on Sunday, THT dropped 17 points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals in 21 minutes of action. He was 7-of-8 from the field, 2-of-3 from deep and 1-of-1 from the free-throw line.
Talen Horton-Tucker has played in 10 of the 11 games thus far, a huge leap from last season where he played just six games—most of which were in the seeding games in the Orlando bubble. He entered Sunday's game averaging 7.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
This is not the first time LeBron James heaped praise on Horton-Tucker. Last month, James actually admitted that he had his eye on the young Lakers forward when he was still in high school.
“I saw him about three and half, four years ago. I was watching a high school basketball game and I happened to catch Simeon playing. And I told our agent at the time—it’s now Talen’s agent, Rich Paul—that he needs to take a look at this kid Talen Horton-Tucker that’s at Simeon. I think the kid is super talented. This was like four years ago,” LeBron shared.
James definitely has an eye for scouting up and coming talent. The Lakers' future are looking pretty as long as they have Horton-Tucker in the fold.
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