On February 3, Beijing time, according to NBA reporter Marc Stein, the Lakers have always wanted to trade Horton Tucker to strengthen the lineup before the trade deadline, but the embarrassing thing is that Horton Tucker has a very low trading value due to his poor performance this season, which is in stark contrast to the situation that he attracted the interest of multiple teams on the trade deadline last season.
This season, Horton Tucker averaged 9.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, which seems to be slightly better than last season's average of 9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. But the problem is that Tucker shot 46 percent last season, compared to 41 percent this season.
What's more, Horton Tucker was still on a rookie contract last season, so it looked good and cheap. However, this season, Horton Tucker has completed a three-year, $30.78 million contract extension with the Lakers, becoming a player with an annual salary of tens of millions, in this case, his performance naturally makes people feel that they are not worthy of a big contract, so the value of the transaction has declined.
It has to be said that the Lakers' predicament this season is directly related to Pelinka's misjudgment of Horton Tucker. Because if he was willing to send Horton Tucker to trade Lowry last season, then the Lakers' current situation may be completely different.
Last season's trade deadline, the Lakers originally intended to use Pope and Schroeder to trade Lowry, but the Raptors liked Horton Tucker and asked to add him to the trade, but Pelinka did not give up Horton Tucker, resulting in the miscarriage of the trade. At that time, many Lakers fans also supported Pelinka, thinking that a 3-for-1 trade with Lowry was not cost-effective, but in fact, if the Lakers completed the deal at that time, even if they could not win the championship last season, the lineup this season would definitely be very reasonable.
Because Schroeder had already rejected the Lakers' big contract at that time, if lowry was traded, the Lakers strengthened the No. 1 position, naturally they would not trade Westbrook, so they could also keep Kuzma, Harrell and the No. 22 sign, both for their own use, or they could be used as chips to try to trade Hield. At the same time, Horton Tucker was sent away, and the Lakers could also keep Caruso, which can be said to be counted in one fell swoop.
Unfortunately, Pelinka made a mistake in one move, and now the Lakers are going to lose all the games. The Lakers' exchange for Westbrook has not been able to integrate with Zhan Mei, and the failure to keep Caruso has also affected the team's outside defense and backcourt depth. Horton Tucker is even more likely to be smashed in the hand, and not sending him away last season is probably a worse choice than trading Westbrook.