The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly are not interested in trading guard Talen Horton-Tucker to the Utah Jazz for guard Patrick Beverley.
“While they continue to register the league’s only tangible trade interest in Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving, it’s likewise true that the Lakers have prioritized adding speed, youth and athleticism to the roster,” NBA insider Marc Stein wrote. “As such, according to one source familiar with the team’s thinking, there is no push forthcoming from the Lakers’ side to swap Talen Horton-Tucker (as rumored) for Patrick Beverley, who ranks as one of Utah’s very available veterans alongside Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanović and Jordan Clarkson. The Jazz acquired Beverley and Malik Beasley in the Rudy Gobert trade and have made Beasley available as well.”
Horton-Tucker, who signed a long-term deal with the Lakers last offseason, fits the Lakers’ desire to have young talent on their roster. He is under contract for the 2022-23 season with the Lakers and has a player option for the 2023-24 season.
Beverley, a proven veteran who helped the Minnesota Timberwolves make the playoffs last season, is 34 years old and doesn’t have the long-term upside that Horton-Tucker does.
Horton-Tucker averaged 10.0 points per game in the 2021-22 season, which was a career-high, but he shot a career-worst 41.6 percent from the field and 26.9 percent from beyond the arc. He also averaged 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.
Even though Los Angeles would like to win now with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, there is only so much a trade for Beverley would do for the team. While he is a better defender than Horton-Tucker, he has less upside as a scorer for the Lakers looking beyond the 2022-23 season.
If the Lakers truly want to improve their roster, they likely will need to move off of guard Russell Westbrook’s contract to bring in players that can fit around James and Davis better in the 2022-23 season.
It appears that the Lakers view Horton-Tucker as a valuable part of the team’s future, so it makes sense they apparently aren’t eager to move him for a veteran like Beverley.
