Like the Los Angeles Lakers, the Chicago Bulls are renouncing the free-agent rights of several contributors to make ample room for their new roster additions.
One of those assets is a 25-year-old Lakers NBA champion castoff who has secured $35 million in the big leagues.
“As part of their moves to create the space to trade for Nic Claxton and sign Norman Powell, the Chicago Bulls renounced the FA rights to the following players: Talen Horton-Tucker, Yuki Kawamura, Mac McClung, Lachlan Olbrich, Nick Richards, Collin Sexton, Matt Thomas, Guerschon Yabusele,” Spotrac’s Keith Smith wrote Saturday.
After a solid freshman season at Iowa State, Horton-Tucker entered the 2019 NBA Draft. The Lakers selected the Chicago, Illinois native with the No. 46 overall pick, and he instantly enjoyed high-level team success with the 17-time NBA champions.
Horton-Tucker won a title with Los Angeles in Year 1, averaging 5.7 points per game while shooting 46.7% from the field and 30.8% from beyond the arc.
Unfortunately for Horton-Tucker, he was involved in one of the biggest free-agency mistakes in recent memory the following summer, as the Lakers elected to re-sign him to a multi-year deal in the summer of 2021 and let Alex Caruso explore the market (he eventually inked a deal with the Chicago Bulls).
Why was the Lakers’ five-year-old offseason a colossal mistake? While Caruso, who just completed his second season with the Oklahoma City Thunder, has transformed into one of the league’s most daunting and versatile defenders, Horton-Tucker is currently out of the league after flaming out with the Lakers, Utah Jazz (via a 2022 trade), and Bulls (via a 2024 free agent signing).
Horton-Tucker’s inability to make positive strides as a perimeter shooter (29.9% for his career) and on-ball defender doomed him with each of the three franchises, making the Lakers’ decision to prioritize him after two seasons look worse than ever.
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