Lakers’ 2 massive Talen Horton-Tucker mistakes are now in the limelight
By Jason Reed
The Talen Horton-Tucker era in Los Angeles is officially over. The Los Angeles Lakers traded Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson to the Utah Jazz for Patrick Beverley in what will hopefully be the first of several moves to reinvent the roster.
While some fans might be devastated to see Horton-Tucker get traded, in a vacuum, the deal for Patrick Beverley was genius for the Lakers. THT simply was not helping the team contend and the potential he does have as a young player was not going to blossom in LA as is. Might as well get something for him while the team still can.
While this singular trade itself was a smart move by the Lakers, it is hard not to look back at the mistakes that the team made with Talen Horton-Tucker and think about what could have been. These mistakes are now in the limelight as the Lakers, as a whole, could have been significantly different with better judgment.
Lakers’ first Talen Horton-Tucker mistake: Not trading him for Kyle Lowry
Back during the 2021 NBA trade deadline, the Lakers were in talks with the Toronto Raptors to acquire Kyle Lowry, who was on an expiring deal. Lowry did not have much of a trade market but talks progressed between the Lakers and Raptors, with a deal seemingly on the table to bring Lowry to LA.
Lowry would have made a huge impact that season on the Lakers and who knows, when Anthony Davis got hurt in the first round of the playoffs the Lakers might have been able to survive against the Phoenix Suns with Lowry and LeBron, allowing AD more time to return and get healthy.
And if the Lakers would have outlasted the Suns they would have, at the very least, made the NBA Finals. Not only that, but the Lakers may have signed Lowry to a new deal after his contract expired as they would have had his Bird Rights. That would have kept Russell Westbrook from ever coming to LA.
So why did it not happen? The Lakers did not want to include THT in the package. The reported package included Dennis Schroder, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and draft compensation, with the main sticking point being THT.
The Beverley trade is a smart one now but it definitely is not as good as trading for Kyle Lowry back during the 2020-21 season.
Lakers’ second Talen Horton-Tucker mistake: Choosing him over Alex Caruso
As beneficial as Patrick Beverley is to the team right now, he is essentially a worse and older version of Alex Caruso at this point in his career. Every single fan would rather have Caruso at his price point for multiple years instead of one year of Beverley.
However, Rob Pelinka and co. decided to instead choose Talen Horton-Tucker, signing him to a three-year, $30.7 million contract that quickly seemed to become way overpriced. Caruso signed a cheaper deal with the Chicago Bulls and continued being an impactful two-way player.
The fact of the matter is that Los Angeles could have simply re-signed both players but did not want to deal with the tax implications of signing both. It is not like Caruso took some massive deal to play elsewhere. He could have been a Laker but the team let the more valuable player go to double-down on THT after not trading him for Lowry.
Now, just one year after making that decision and letting Caruso walk, the team has finally come to its senses.