Clippers forward P.J. Tucker is not requesting a buyout and is expected to remain with the team through the remainder of the season, according to TNT and Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes (Twitter link). This comes after trade attempts involving Tucker fell short, Haynes adds. This was the expected outcome if Tucker wasn’t moved at the deadline.
It’s no secret Tucker wasn’t thrilled with his role after landing with the Clippers in the James Harden trade at the beginning of the season. After starting in all 78 of his appearances with the Sixers after signing there in 2022, Tucker has only played in just 12 games with Los Angeles. averaging 14.4 minutes per game.
“I want to be somewhere where I’m needed, wanted and can do it all. I don’t know what’s going to happen but I have my fingers crossed and I’m hoping to go somewhere else whether I get bought out and choose where I go or where I can play,” Tucker said before the deadline to Andscape’s Marc J. Spears (Twitter link).
Tucker was once seen as a “strong” candidate to be moved before the deadline, but the fact that he has an $11.5MM player option for next season appears to have been an issue for opposing teams. The most likely step forward for both sides is Tucker accepting his player option in the offseason and then the two sides working together to find a deal that suits him when teams have a clearer idea of their 2024/25 plans.
For what it’s worth, Tucker seemingly expressed frustration at the situation in an Instagram story following the deadline, with the story reading “All this s— is a f—ing joke” (Instagram link).
We have more rumors regarding the buyout market:
- Hornets point guard Kyle Lowry is the Sixers‘ top priority on the market if he and Charlotte come to terms on a buyout agreement, according to NBA insider Marc Stein (Twitter link). The Sixers have been making moves all day to clear salary (Danuel House) and playing time (Jaden Springer, Patrick Beverley) in the guard room, so Lowry is a sensible addition.
- The Lakers, Mavericks, Pelicans and Sixers are expected to have interest in Spencer Dinwiddie after he was waived by the Raptors earlier Thursday, The Athletic’s Shams Charania said on Stadium’s live trade deadline show (hat tip to RealGM). Dinwiddie is ineligible to sign with the Celtics, Nuggets, Warriors, Clippers, Heat, Bucks and Suns, whose team salaries are above the tax apron, so that list of four interested teams includes some of the top playoff contenders available for Dinwiddie to sign with. He averaged 12.6 points and 6.0 assists in 48 games (all starts) with the Nets this season.
- The Lakers are indeed among the frontrunners to sign Dinwiddie, confirms ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter link). Los Angeles is a good position to land the 6’5″ guard, because the Lakers are able to offer around $1.5MM prorated because they didn’t give Gabe Vincent the full mid-level exception in the offseason, McMenamin adds (Twitter link). Other teams are only able to offer around $1MM.
- The Bulls stood pat at the trade deadline and are likely to make moves to supplement a potential playoff push, according to NBC Sports Chicago’s K.C. Johnson. Former Pistons sharpshooter Joe Harris could be a target for Chicago on the buyout market after he was waived by Detroit. Johnson adds the Bulls tried to acquire Bojan Bogdanovic from Detroit.
76ers target Lowry and Dinwiddie.
Lakers target everyone (salary $20M or more)
Offseason:
76ers target Paul George with $33 million cap space.
let Harris walk for nothing?
Will Maxey take pay cut?
My favorite is
Rockets target Donovan Mitchell and Zion this week.
My prediction
76ers Get Lowry
Mavs get Dinwiddie
Knicks get Joe Harris
Tucker stay put
Tucker thinks he is too good to ride the bench for a championship contender.
He isn’t.
You can’t have your cake and eat it too
Maxey will get PAID this off-season. Having Harris crazy contract off the books will be a godsend for the sixers. We’ll see how they build the team considering they only have 2 players after this season
Bulls need to clear out the front office.
Didn’t make any moves, Zachs out injured for the rest of the season, gave Vuce a bad contract, decided to do nothing with DeRozan, overvalued Caruso out of a trade, done nothing to develop Patrick Williams and now they are talking about a playoff push. Bucks, Celtics, Sixers, Heat, Raptors, Magic, Knicks, Cavs, Hawks, Indy, Brooklyn are all much better, and that’s 11 teams.
Look at Coby White shine after selfish players like DeRozan, Zach and Vuce were all out. He didn’t show bugger all for the first 4 years in the league and you got lucky resigning him so cheap before this year. Just like Patrick Williams now, imagine if he signs elsewhere for 3 years 12mil a season before averaging 20-7-2 and playing elite defence like we know he’s capable of doing.
While I do think they should’ve traded demar, the bulls’ inactivity isn’t as bad as it’s being made out to be. Zach would’ve been traded if he didn’t get hurt, they can jus wait to trade him this summer. Vucs contract is fine, p appropriate value given his consistency. And I’m glad they kept Caruso, there’s a reason lots of teams wanted him, he’s super fun to root for and on a team w not many bright spots, AC is a big part of enjoying some bulls games.
Coby has been fantastic, he and ayo are the backcourt of the future. Williams has been hurt, I expect they’ll resign him , and I do wish they’d traded demar in order to allow pat to be the starting 3 next year (he rly shouldn’t be playing the 4). They also should’ve capitalized on getting some seconds for Drummond, but that’s a p low stakes trade off either way.
They’re gonna get lonzo back next year and most likely trade Zach this summer. In an ideal world, they would’ve traded demar and could do sumn like a sign and trade for Tobias Harris this upcoming summer (w Zach going to Philly)- in that ideal scenario, bulls would have a starting group of Coby/ayo/pat/Harris/vuc next year w zo, AC, terry and Phillips off the bench. But most likely the starters will be Coby, ayo, demar, Pat, vuc. If bulls go into next year w lavine then they’ll rly catch some flak.
Zo ain’t ever going to play again my friend.
The front office didn’t stomp on LaVine’s foot. Trading for Vuc was questionable but resigning him was a no brainer. It’s better to hold on to Caruso then trade him for extra parts. Williams’ development is on him and the coaching staff. The only move that was truly bad was signing DeRozan as they already had a player with a similar skill set in LaVine.
The Nets, Raptors and Hawks have all been worse than the Bulls all season. None of those teams made any moves or got any better in the past couple weeks to catch the Bulls now. Philly’s is understandably in free fall since the Embiid injury. I see them staying in 9th but Bulls could make the 7th seed.
You think Philly is gonna beat Chicago in the play in?
If Embiid’s not back to full strength then yes the Bulls can beat them.
Lol Spencer back to the mavs