Michael Nyarko
This offseason, there were rumors that the Clippers might trade or waive a few veteran players, including Russell Westbrook and P.J. Tucker.
So far, Westbrook is off in Denver, but according to a report by Law Murray of The Athletic, the Clippers are preparing for the possibility that P.J. Tucker will still be on their roster when the regular season starts.
Tucker, who played a limited role after joining the Clippers from the 76ers in the James Harden trade, opted into his $11.54 million player option for the 2024/25 season few months ago.
Right now, there aren’t many teams that are willing or able to take on Tucker’s $11.54 million salary, and the Clippers don’t seem to feel an urgent need to move his contract.
Since they’ve already used their bi-annual exception and most of their mid-level exception, getting rid of Tucker’s contract wouldn’t really give them much additional spending power.
While Murray thinks that a trade isn’t likely before training camp, Tucker is still a strong candidate to be moved before the February trade deadline. His expiring contract could be useful in a mid-season trade to help the Clippers acquire another player.
Last season, Tucker only appeared in 28 regular season games for the Clippers, averaging 1.6 points and 2.5 rebounds in 15 minutes per game.
He didn’t see any action in the playoffs until Game 5 of their first-round series against Dallas ( Clips eventually lost the series in Game 6 ) .
At 39 years old, Tucker isn’t as impactful as he was during his prime with the Rockets. He no longer attracts much attention from opposing defenses and averaged only 1.6 shot attempts per game last season.