Los Angeles Lakers rumors: Talen Horton-Tucker to remain limited in training camp

Recent Los Angeles Lakers rumors involve rookie Talen Horton-Tucker, who is still dealing with a stress reaction in his foot and will reportedly be limited in training camp.

Recent Los Angeles Lakers rumors weren’t overly positive as the team gears up for training camp. It was revealed that Kyle Kuzma is dealing with a stress injury to his left ankle, which will keep him sidelined through mid-October. Unfortunately, he won’t be the only player sidelined for a few weeks.

According to the Lakers official team website, Kuzma will be joined on the sideline by rookie Talen Horton-Tucker.

The Lakers acquired the draft rights to Horton-Tucker during the 2019 NBA Draft. He was selected by the Orlando Magic with the No. 46 overall pick and was traded to the Lakers for a 2020 second-round pick and cash. However, we have yet to see Horton-Tucker on the court and it will be a little while longer until we do.

According to the Lakers official medical update, THT is dealing with a stress reaction in his right foot. He will continue receiving treatment for the injury and his status will be updated upon the team’s arrival back in Los Angeles following the start of training camp in China. He will be a limited participant in training camp.

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This is an injury that Horton-Tucker has been dealing with for months. The Lakers selected him knowing he was dealing with the stress injury, which limited him leading up to the draft. He didn’t appear in any of the Summer League games in the California Classic of Las Vegas Summer League.

This injury is causing the former Iowa State product to miss valuable practice time with his new teammates. Horton-Tucker has some talent, but he is a very raw prospect. Getting in this practice time throughout the offseason and in training camp would have been advantageous for him, but he will miss out on them.

Horton-Tucker brings some stuff to the court to like. He has great length, which should help him defensively as he can defend multiple positions. He can rebound the ball rather well and showed some playmaking ability.

However, it was tough to project Horton-Tucker receiving many minutes out of the gate unless he really blew the coaching staff away during training camp. Now, he won’t even have that opportunity as he recovers from his injury.

It is likely that he spends a majority of his time in the G League as a rookie. The Lakers are in win-now mode, so developing a 19-year old rookie as raw as Horton-Tucker isn’t going to be high on their priority list.

While it would have been nice to see him get some action during the preseason, we may not seem him get on the court until the G League season begins in November.