Los Angeles Lakers: Why Talen-Horton Tucker is a realistic trade chip

The calendar has turned and we are heading full steam ahead to the NBA Trade Deadline, where the Los Angeles Lakers could look to make improvements to the team.

There is one consistent thing about LeBron James-led teams during the season — they almost always have some sort of shake-up as the team makes improvements during the NBA Trade Deadline. The Los Angeles Lakers will likely be no different.

It does not need to be a blockbuster trade and has not always included big-name players. However, the trade deadline often provides an opportunity to improve the team with assets that were not originally available in the summer and every title-contending team should be looking to improve in any way possible.

The Lakers have been fantastic this season and the chances of them getting a huge-name acquisition are slim. However, the team does have some valuable trade chips, most notably Kyle Kuzma, who on paper at least, does make sense to trade for the Lakers only if the return is justified.

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Kuzma is not a great fit alongside LeBron and Anthony Davis and his minutes played is perhaps the best reflection of that. If the Lakers can flip Kuzma for a wing with great defense and a three-point shot, and the contract is right, then they probably would jump at that opportunity. It would have to be someone such as Robert Covington.

Another trade chip that the Lakers have that some fans may want to hold onto is Talen-Horton Tucker, who was selected in the second round of the 2020 NBA Draft. Tucker is a valuable young prospect that could absolutely be used as a bargaining chip, for a multitude of reasons.

Ronald Agers of Lake Show Life, our FanSided sister site, argues that there is no real chance of the Lakers ever letting go of Tucker. The reason being that the team held him in very high regard in the draft (they traded for him) and that he is killing it in the G League.

The Los Angeles Lakers did trade up for Tucker and he is having a great year in the G League, but that would not stop the Lakers from trading him.

First of all, it is not like the Lakers traded up in the first round for Tucker. The team traded its 2020 second-round pick and cash considerations for Tucker, likely because at the time there were still serious questions on whether or not the Lakers would have any depth. They needed the asset much more now than they did next season.

Now that the team has depth he has found himself relegated to the G League. Just because he is having a great year, though, does not mean anything for his future as a Laker. Thomas Bryant tore it up with the South Bay Lakers and the team simply waived him. G League production won’t get you a job on the team, it will help, but it boils down to the fit in the rotation.

Heck, look at Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk. The Lakers selected him with the 47th pick in the 2018 NBA draft, one spot lower than Tucker, and did not even hesitate to trade him for a half-season of Reggie Bullock, who was the better and more experienced fit at the time.

The same would be done for Tucker if the Lakers can get an asset in return that actually helps the team instead of the G League team. The important thing to keep in mind with these second-round picks is that they are not locked up in the long-term for the team.

Tucker has a two-year contract and then he is a restricted free agent, which means the Los Angeles Lakers would have to match any offer he gets in free agency to re-sign him.

There is a very real chance that Tucker sits in the G League for two seasons and some other team signs him away with the Lakers not wanting to match the salary for the purpose of getting big-name free agents. There is no long-term contract to rely on. Hence, Tucker becomes a trade chip.

Next. A trade to try for Robert Covington. dark

Whether or not it is the right decision all depends on what the Los Angeles Lakers would get in return. At the end of the day, don’t get too surprised if the Lakers trade their second-round pick from the year before, it literally just happened last season.

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