Free market opens for nearly a month, and 24-year-old Holden Tucker remains unattended

The free market has been opened for nearly a month, and 24-year-old Holden Tucker is still unattended. This young defender, who was once highly anticipated by the Lakers, is now hard to wait for an invitation to a basic salary contract.

From a young young player who won the championship with the Lakers in 2020, to a core rotation with tens of millions of contracts, to a person on the verge of unemployment today, his career trajectory is a cliff-like decline.

In the 2019-20 season, 19-year-old Horton Tucker won the championship with the Lakers, but because he was too young (US law stipulates that he cannot drink alcohol under the age of 20), he could only drink orange juice like Rondo's son at the championship celebration. This scene has become an interesting story that fans talk about.

At that time, he was just a "goal" player at the end of the Lakers' bench and almost didn't get many opportunities to play.

However, in the 2020-21 season, the Lakers suffered a severe injury wave, and Tucker unexpectedly got a lot of playing time. He played 65 games, averaging 20.1 minutes per game, contributing 9.0 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.0 steals. Despite his low efficiency (45.8% shooting percentage and 28.2% of three-pointers), the Lakers still chose to give him a three-year, $30.78 million contract extension in the offseason.

In the summer of 2021, the Lakers faced a difficult choice: should they keep the defensive strongman Caruso, or bet on the young Tucker? In the end, the Lakers chose the latter and let Caruso go (the latter joined the Bulls for 37 million in four years). Ironically, Caruso grew into top 3D in the Bulls, and was traded to the Thunder last year and helped the team win the championship.

And what about Tucker? In the 2021-22 season, the Lakers formed a "Sunset Red" lineup, with a record dropping to 33 wins and missed the play-offs. Tucker averaged 10.0 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game, with a shooting percentage of 41.6%, and 26.9% of three-pointers, and an average performance.

What's even more embarrassing is that the Lakers refused to trade Lowry with him, but sent him to the Jazz after the end of the season, only for Beverly.

Three years after leaving the Lakers, Tucker's situation continued to deteriorate. Although he has obtained stable playing time in the Jazz for two years, he has never been able to improve his efficiency; after joining the Bulls at the base salary last season, his average playing time dropped sharply to 12.5 minutes, only 6.5 points.

The most fatal thing is that his physical talent (1m 93 height + 2m 17 wingspan) failed to translate into competitiveness - unstable shooting, poor finishing efficiency, and insufficient defensive judgment made him gradually lose the trust of the coach.

Tuck, now 24 years old, was supposed to be in the rising period of his career, but he became a "transparent person" in the free market. Comparing players of the same class: Zion in the 2019 class has become an All-Star, Garland signed a maximum salary, and even Kennard in the second round can get a contract of tens of millions.

Tuck's current situation not only stems from his slow progress, but also is related to the Lakers' excessive expectations back then - the 30 million contract not only overdrawed the team's salary space, but also put him under pressure that was inconsistent with his ability.