Los Angeles Lakers: Grading the Talen Horton-Tucker selection

We hand out a grade for the Los Angeles Lakers selection of Talen Horton-Tucker with the No. 46 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.

The Los Angeles Lakers were quiet throughout a majority of the 2019 NBA Draft. Los Angeles landed the No. 4 pick in the NBA Draft Lottery but used that pick as part of the agreed upon trade to land Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans.

With that trade taking away virtually all of the assets and depth on the roster, Los Angeles has to get creative in filling out the remainder of the roster. That process began in the second round of the draft.

Los Angeles traded into the second round, acquiring the No. 46 overall pick from the Orlando Magic. To acquire the selection from the Magic, the Lakers are sending a future second-round pick and cash considerations to Orlando.

With the No. 46 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, the Lakers selected Talen Horton-Tucker out of Iowa State.

Horton-Tucker is the youngest collegiate player in this year’s draft class. He is only 18 years old and won’t turn 19 until November. He played one season with the Cyclones, averaging 11.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.7 blocks in 27.2 minutes per game.

He stands 6’4″ and weighs 240 pounds, so his athleticism is limited. However, he possesses a wingspan over 7’1″, which will give him a chance to be a very versatile defender. If he can keep his weight and conditioning in check, he could develop in a great defender as his size enables him to defend four different positions with ease.

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That kind of versatility is extremely important in today’s NBA with positionless basketball. Offensively, that versatility is present as well. He is a capable facilitator but needs to improve his ball-handling skills. Given his size, he can post up smaller players, but he will need to refine his game.

One of the biggest knocks against him in college was his shot selection. Horton-Tucker was a bit of a chucker at Iowa State and shot inefficiently. He made only 40.6 percent of his shots from the field, 30.8 percent from the 3-point line and 62.5 percent from the foul line.

He will have to improve upon those shooting numbers if he wants to stick in the NBA. His size and versatility are intriguing, which will help, but on a team with LeBron James, you need to shoot the ball and he hasn’t proven he can do that consistently yet.

That lack of shooting makes this an odd fit for the Lakers. Knowing they need to fill out their roster with players that could help them right away, you’d have thought a more polished player or someone with a consistent jump shot, such as his teammate Marial Shayok or Quinndary Weatherspoon would have been the selection.

Someone such as Luguentz Dort, who could still be added as he went undrafted, would have brought energy and aggressiveness to the table.

However, one of the things that Horton-Tucker has going for him that those players don’t is that he is part of Klutch Sports with Rich Paul being his agent. He is the second Klutch Sports player to be added to the roster this offseason, and he probably won’t be the last.

As if the Lakers’ front office wasn’t in enough hot water in recent weeks, this will make some fans uneasy as well, as Mike Trudell shared, via Horton-Tucker himself, the Lakers never met with him or even had a workout with him leading up to the draft.

Talen Horton-Tucker says he did not work out for Lakers and did not meet with them at Combine. He has, however, met a couple other players represented by Klutch Sports: LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
— Bill Oram (@billoram) June 21, 2019

Horton-Tucker has some upside and is a worthwhile risk in the second round. However, he needs time to develop. That is not something he will be afforded given the current landscape of the organization, which will knock this grade down some.

Grade: B-