A quick word of advice for Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel: If you want to keep something a secret, maybe don't say it out loud.

During a recent episode of Backstage Lakers, that's exactly what Vogel did when discussing 20-year old Talen Horton-Tucker.

“Last year Alex was my secret weapon,” Vogel said, referencing guard Alex Caruso. “This year Talen's my secret weapon.”

Welp.

To be fair, the cat was already out of the bag. Horton-Tucker has been one of the many bright spots for the Lakers in 2020-21, and Vogel can't hide his skills any longer.

The no. 46 pick in the 2019 draft first caught the attention of L.A.'s coaching staff last summer in the bubble. After spending most of his rookie season in the G-League, Horton-Tucker took advantage of his increased opportunities in Orlando. He scored double-digits in three of his four appearances during the seeding games, then held his own in the second round against the Houston Rockets.

“By the end of the playoffs last year, my expectations for this season were pretty high for him,” Vogel recently told reporters. “He’s shown me over those three months in the bubble that he’s a hell of a basketball player … And then this year he’s just sort of lived up to that expectation in my mind.”

Lakers fans were anticipating big things from Horton-Tucker, too, after his breakout preseason. Over four warm-up games in December, he sent #LakersTwitter, including LeBron James, into a week-long frenzy as he dropped 19, 33, 19, and 12 points.

In the regular season, Horton-Tucker has, for the most part, been a mainstay in Frank Vogel's rotation. In 21 games, THT is averaging 15.6 points per-36 minutes on 47.3% shooting. His confident rim attacks have sparked the L.A. offense at times, and his unique physique (234 pounds, 7'1 wingspan) enables him to wreak havoc on both ends.

Most importantly, he's earned the trust of Vogel and his teammates. Like Caruso, last season, Horton-Tucker has seen increasing opportunities in the fourth quarter, which — hint, hint: rest of league — could be a preview of what's to come in the postseason.

Entering Wednesday, Horton-Tucker (16.3 minutes per game) is a member of two of the Lakers' seven most-used lineup combinations. One of those lineups has a better Net Rating (17.9) than the team's vaunted starting five (17.1), and the other ranks third of the seven (15.7), per NBA.com.

Now, the rest of the basketball world is seeing what he can do. As ESPN's Brian Windhorst and others have outlined this week, Horton-Tucker could command a lofty price tag when he hits restricted free agency this summer.

Sacramento Kings rookie Tyrese Haliburton, who played with THT at Iowa State and has known him since AAU ball, was already aware of his high ceiling.

“It’s not surprising by any means, what he does on a nightly basis because that’s just literally who he’s been for as long as I’ve known him,” Haliburton told J.J. Redick on the “Old Man and the Three” podcast. “What I see is not a surprise, but there are some people who are, like, going nuts about what he does and I see it and I’m just like ‘there’s even more that we have yet to see.’”

James has repeatedly praised Horton-Tucker for soaking up knowledge and improving his two-way game with the Lakers this season. But, like Haliburton, James identified THT's potential long before he reached the Association.

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“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.”

It's not a fluke. The 20-year old is soft-spoken and understated when speaking to the media, but he has no shortage of confidence.

In December, Tony Allen, of the NBA's great trash-talkers, observers, and wing defenders, recounted the moment he knew Horton-Tucker could be special.

“I saw him in the G League and he killed it. He had like 29 at halftime,” Allen told The Ringer's Chris Vernon. “I’m like, ‘He with us!’ That man looked at me and said, ‘I don’t even belong down here.’ He told me that. He said, ‘I don’t belong in no G League. I don’t belong down here.’ Hit a 3 next play down. Bam. Looked dead at me. I said, ‘That boy real!’ I said, ‘He real.’ … “I said something to him, he had like 38 that game in the G League, so now seeing him do this right here, this kid been working on his game. You can tell who’s been working on their game when they come back the next year and they just … doing stuff … and-ones, reading the game, their IQ got better, their body is transformed.”

The Lakers— currently with the league's second-best record, 19-6 — improved their roster in the condensed offseason with the additions of the top two vote-getters for the 2019-20 Sixth Man of the Year award, Montrezl Harrell and Dennis Schröder, along with former All-Star center Marc Gasol and veteran 3-and-D man Wes Matthews.

However, the emergence of THT has added one more stick of dynamite to Vogel's weaponry. And it may end up being the most explosive of all. Just don't tell anyone.