Los Angeles Lakers guard Talen Horton-Tucker certainly proved he belongs in the league following the spectacular run he had in the preseason. As far as one NBA scout is concerned, the reigning champions are missing out by not giving him more minutes in the 2020-21 regular season.
Bill Oram of The Athletic revealed on the “The Forum Club” podcast (h/t Ralph Mason) that one unnamed scout had an intriguing observation about the promising second-year Laker guard.
“I was on the phone with a scout the other day, kind of at the peak of THT hysteria, and this is not somebody who works for the Los Angeles Lakers, and they said ‘if you put Talen Horton-Tucker on one of these s—ty teams, like the Thunder or Charlotte, then he might average 20 points a game… This is somebody who does make money to watch (basketball). An NBA team pays for this person’s opinions, and that’s how highly people view him right now,” Oram shared.
Talen Horton-Tucker, of course, became an immediate fan and media favorite after averaging 23.3 points, 8.0 rebounds on 53 percent shooting from the field and 45.5 from 3-point territory in four preseason games. Considering the Purple and Gold re-tooled this year and stacked at almost every position, his playing time was expectedly limited once the regular season began.
Still, Lakers coach Frank Vogel acknowledged the “good problem” that THT brings to the team's rotation and actually played him during the Lakers' first three games of the campaign. The impressive 20-year-old notched 7.7 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 13 minutes of action. He played just six games in his rookie year last season, most of which came in garbage time during blowouts.
While THT likely won't get significant minutes for the Lakers, barring injuries of course, it's nice to see him at least become a regular in the rotation this early in the 2020-21 campaign. It remains unclear what LA plans to do with Horton-Tucker in the future, although they do have several options to explore. One thing's for sure, the defending champs certainly have a hidden gem just waiting in the wings this year.
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