- NBA general manager labels Gabe Vincent as potential target for Lakers
- Report: Retaining Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura is still Lakers’ offseason preference
- Report: Mavs wouldn’t want D’Angelo Russell as main piece in Kyrie Irving sign-and-trade deal with Lakers
- Austin Rivers explains how fate of NBA bubble was essentially in LeBron James’ hands during protest for social justice
- Report: NBA opening investigation into Twitter activity regarding ref that botched call at end of Lakers-Celtics game
- LeBron James’ former teammate: ‘There’s no way in hell that LeBron’s leaving without a farewell tour’
- Scottie Pippen says LeBron James is the greatest statistical player to ever play, while Michael Jordan was ‘horrible’
- How the Lakers could realistically complete a sign-and-trade deal for Kyrie Irving
- Report: Source close to LeBron James believes he will be back with Lakers next season
- Report: Lakers won’t pursue max extension with D’Angelo Russell
Tony Allen reveals the precise moment he knew Talen Horton-Tucker was the real deal
- Updated: December 16, 2020
Los Angeles Lakers youngster Talen Horton-Tucker impressed many in the basketball world in his first two preseason games of the new NBA season.
Although Horton-Tucker seemingly came out of nowhere, former NBA player Tony Allen has known since last season that the second-round draft pick was special.
Story time! Tony Allen (@aa000G9) saw Talen Horton-Tucker in person last year and they had an interaction that made TA know he’s for real. pic.twitter.com/oH6Ean0pm5
— Chris Vernon (@ChrisVernonShow) December 15, 2020
“I saw him in the G League. … He killed it,” said Allen. “He had like 29 at halftime. I’m like, ‘He with us?’ That man looked at me and said, ‘I don’t even belong down here.’ He told me that. He said, ‘I don’t belong in no G League. I don’t belong down here.’ Hit a three next play down. Bam. Looked dead at me. I said, ‘That boy real!’ I say, ‘He real.’”
Lakers fans will probably remember Allen as a member of the Boston Celtics teams that battled L.A. in the NBA Finals in 2008 and 2010.
After Allen’s playing career ended in 2018, he moved on to become a player development coach for the Memphis Hustle, the Memphis Grizzlies’ G League affiliate.
Horton-Tucker has already come a long way from the player who barely played during the 2019-20 regular season.
When the campaign resumed in the Orlando, Fla. bubble, Horton-Tucker started getting spot duty during the playoffs and flashed an offensive skill set that few players can boast.
Now, it looks as though he’s making a serious claim to get substantial playing time in the 2020-21 campaign.