Who is Talen Horton-Tucker?

The Los Angeles Lakers are two preseason games in and the season is already exciting. The Lakers played two games against the Los Angeles Clippers to start their season. LeBron James and Anthony Davis have yet to play in a preseason game and the team is still 2-0, winning both games. This means that some players are getting a chance to play with these two stars sitting out. The Lakers have made some moves in free agency and it seems like the moves are paying off.

Talen Horton-Tucker is a Standout

Specifically, Talen Horton-Tucker has been an absolute standout for the Lakers during their preseason games. In the first preseason game, Horton-Tucker recorded 19 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals. The next game, Horton-Tucker continued to impress with 33 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals. With a pretty talented Lakers squad, Horton-Tucker showed out in the last two preseason games and was definitely a standout player.

Courtesy of lakersoutsiders.com

Before the NBA, Horton-Tucker played at Iowa State. Staying for only one year, Horton-Tucker was a part of the 2019 Draft.  Horton-Tucker was selected #46 in the 2019 Draft by the Lakers. He had a two-way contract with the Lakers so he spent most of his rookie season playing for the South Bay Lakers, the G-league affiliate of the team. The Lakers then took Horton-Tucker to the Bubble with them where he played in two games. Now it seems like Horton-Tucker is ready for the NBA.

The Lakers now have options

At only 20 years old, Horton-Tucker has proven he can be a valuable asset to the team and he can run in the big league. This fact could really make the Lakers rotation even harder to pinpoint. The Lakers added players to their roster that are competitors as well as having different players on their team step up. Since the Lakers obviously have a lot of options, the coaching staff may have to make tough decisions about play time.

Having options could allow the Lakers to change around line ups and rotations depending on certain match ups with teams. The Lakers may discover that certain players work better together or different players have different strengths. This would allow the Lakers to provide the best matched lineup against any team and players’ minutes would vary off of that fact. Keeping a core few players in the lineup, such as Anthony Davis and LeBron, then changing different players based on matchups may guarantee a repeat championship for the Lakers.

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