Jazz guard Talen Horton-Tucker is opting into his contract for next season, Brian Windhorst of ESPN tweets. Horton-Tucker’s player option will pay him a salary of $11,020,000 in 2023/24.
There’s been a lot of speculation whether the 22-year-old guard would exercise the option or test the free agent market and seek at least the non-taxpayer mid-level exception. He ultimately chose to take the guaranteed money and put off free agency for another year.
Horton-Tucker, who spent his first three seasons with the Lakers, averaged 10.7 points, 3.8 assists and 3.2 rebounds in 65 games (20 starts) last season in Utah.
He’s a subpar perimeter shooter (28% on 3-point attempts in his career), which may have held down his value if he had opted out. He’ll attempt to continue building his value in advance of unrestricted free agency in 2024.
Horton-Tucker slots in as a second-unit player, though that could change depending on how the offseason shakes out. Jordan Clarkson holds a $14.26MM option on his contract.
Clarkson and Horton-Tucker are two of four Jazz veterans who entered the offseason facing player option decisions, as our tracker shows. Rudy Gay and Damian Jones both picked up their options, though Gay is being traded to Atlanta as part of his opt-in.
Smart Choice to opt in. Only chance was for more years and this way he gets max per year if he increases his value this coming year.
Good chance Clarkson it’s out and may be gone. That leaves tht in a nice position to play for big bucks.
Talen Horton-Tucker made a really smart decision!!!!!!!!!! The reason I say that is because if the Utah Jazz don’t make a splash in free agency for a Point Guard this offseason he will be their starting Point Guard. He will be able to play on the biggest starting lineup in the NBA that got plenty size and shooters on there. He just needs to improve his efficiency. That will be very important if he trying to land a big deal.
Utah Jazz Starting Lineup to open 2023-2024
SF Lauri Markkanen 7’0 240
26 years old
PF John Collins 6’9 225
26 years old
C Walker Kessler 7’0 250
22 years old
SG Ochai Agbagi 6’5 215
23 years old
PG Talen Horton-Tucker 6’4 235
22 years old
This a team that will be able to compete for a play in spot. Might be a sleeper team. I don’t know exactly how the bench will be because they can possibly lose one of the best 6th man in the NBA in Jordan Clarkson. So I have to see how the offseason play out first but so far I think that will be their projected starting lineup
Dudes garbage
Maybe on the Lakers. On the Jazz, he had multiple double doubles. Had multiple 40 point games. He was directly responsible for the Jazz winning extra games while Markkanen missed games. He carried the Jazz at times. So no, he’s not trash. If anything, he’s still very young at 22. He’s only going to get better.
Guys on bad teams that can score always attract the eyes of the fish
However, the Jazz weren’t a bad team. Therefore, ignorance is bliss. =)
Thought it was dumbfounded the rumors circulating of a potential opt-out.
I don’t see a playoff team out there willing to give him even the TPMLE (5mill).
Big year for him, he better find a niche instead of relying on a iso centric controlled chaos style of ball. He should watch old lemon pepper (LAC)games to better reel in his game. Willams like he was looking to be outta the league (tor lal years) for awhile before a (successful) re-model was endured in Clip land of all places
The Jazz are not contenders but it looks like they can field a competitive squad that will hover around the play-in spots.
Right now they’re better than last year and they barely missed the play-in. If Clarkson opts in or they are able to get another quality vet guard they I think they could realistically get up to 5-6th place.
Lots of factors could move them down into the 7-10 range, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened. Injuries and surprise teams are the biggest unknowns that will have the largest impact.
They had a losing record in 2023, and a worse losing percentage after the Conley trade.
They started hot and played well in fall 2022. That makes their overall record look like they were closer to the playoffs than they were. Remember when they were number one last season?
Post Conley this is not a playoff team.
Getting another PF will not fix that. The Jazz will have the slowest frontline in the NBA unless they trade someone.
Misleading people. The jazz were still good regardless of how hard the front office tried to help them lose. Didn’t tank all too well but losing conley was a factor.
Their slide wasn’t just Conley. They started losing before the trade deadline. It was right after Danny Ainge made his first public comment about them winning so much. That was about 15 or so games in.
I would say injuries to guys and mentality was more at fault than losing Conley. This year they’ll have the green light. It’ll tell us who this team really is.
Kris Dunn way better
Dunn is more under control for sure. His defense is outstanding! He’s better at distributing the ball. He’s also improved his outside shooting. I do prefer Dunn as the starting PG.
THT is more of a SG who can also pass and rebound. He just needs to study more film and add more change of pace moves. Other than that, he’s very explosive and dominant with the ball in his hands. Can be a #1 option, when he’s very aggressive. He had noticeable improvement throughout the year, too. Has more upside than Dunn. Just different players. He’s worth developing further.
If Clarkson opts in, then the starting lineup should primarily be:
Dunn
Clarkson
Markkanen
Collins
Kessler
Ochai and THT can be plugged in as needed, but still need more seasoning to be starters.
The bench rotation isn’t set in stone. That’s what I love about Coach Hardy. He’s constantly making adjustments to lineups and defense. Only going to get better.