The Los Angeles Lakers may have a budding star in second-year guard Talen Horton-Tucker.
In fact, an NBA scout recently advocated for people to put money on Horton-Tucker winning the league’s Most Improved Player award.
I just had an NBA scout text me "I don't know if you are allowed, but put some money on Talen Horton-Tucker for Most Improved. He's going to play a lot and he added a lot to his game since the start of his rookie year."
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) December 19, 2020
The sentiment is an incredible sign of the confidence that those within the league’s ranks have in Horton-Tucker’s ascension. However, it’s hard to argue against his potential after seeing him ball out in the preseason.
In the Lakers’ four preseason games, Horton-Tucker averaged 20.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. While his usage and production will surely take a dip once the regular season gets started, there’s little doubt that the Lakers have a special young player on their hands.
Whether or not he enjoys enough of a coming out party this season to be in the running for the prestigious award remains to be seen.
