During the abbreviated NBA offseason, the champion Los Angeles Lakers traded for Dennis Schroder, re-signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and signed Wesley Matthews to verify they remained well-stocked at guard for their title defense.
If Talen Horton-Tucker, 20, retains opening individuals’s eyes along with his play, the Lakers may be deeper than they anticipated.
The 6-foot-4 Horton-Tucker, who has a 7-1 wingspan, took benefit of a number of Lakers stars being out of the lineup to pound the Los Angeles Clippers with 33 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals in a 131-106 preseason win Sunday.
A Lakers second-round decide in 2019 (No. 46 general), Horton-Tucker performed simply 81 minutes throughout six games final season. But now he might be enjoying his means right into a spot within the Lakers’ rotation.
“It’s going to make my job difficult for sure,” coach Frank Vogel stated Sunday night time.
“We have a very deep team. No minutes are guaranteed,” Vogel continued.
“He’s going to keep playing at a high level, and that should push everybody else to stay playing at a high level. It does give us that luxury of having him carry the load some for some of our guys who played deep in the championship run last year and had a short offseason.”
Horton-Tucker is relishing the chance.
“It’s actually crazy because I feel like what other 19-, 20-year-old gets this experience in the world? Not too many,” he stated.
“So just being able to take everything in and learn from it every day, seeing other superstars kind of notice it is actually pretty good.”
0 Comments