Tyrese Haliburton Has Strong Words for Lakers’ Talen Horton-Tucker

Talen Horton-Tucker has shown great potential on the floor. He was impressive in the preseason and Lakers head coach Frank Vogel is impressed with his skill set. Many would agree that the Lakers guard is making the best headlines this season. But, Horton-Tucker doesn’t see much playing time in 2021. He is averaging 6.8 points and 15.6 minutes per game with the Lakers. This doesn’t affect his future, because Horton-Tucker has plenty of time and room to improve. Sacramento Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton shared his thoughts on Talen Horton-Tucker.

Tyrese Haliburton is impressed with Talen Horton-Tucker

These two played together at Iowa State. According to Haliburton, Horton-Tucker has yet to unveil his full potential.

“It’s not surprising by any means, what he does on a nightly basis because that’s just literally who he’s been for as long as I’ve known him,” Haliburton said on The Old Man and the Three podcast with JJ Redick. “So it’s like, what I see is not a surprise, but there are some people who are, like, going nuts about what he does and I see it and I’m just like ‘there’s even more that we have yet to see.’

“I think what people don’t realize is Talen is the same age as the rookies. Because we’re the class of 2018, but he’s a year younger, so really he should have been a freshman last year and this should have been his first year. People don’t understand how young he really is and what he really can bring to L.A. I think obviously they’re obviously a championship team, coming off of a ring so they have a lot of pieces, but Talen’s a guy that’s ready for his opportunity and what we see: trust me, there’s a lot more to it.”

The Lakers have so many games on the schedule. Head coach Vogel is making changes to the lineup and he has yet to find the right winning formula. Horton-Tucker will soon get his chance to play his best basketball. This season, he is getting playing minutes and that’s a great upgrade from last season. In the 2019-20 NBA season, Horton-Tucker played in six games.