LeBron James Reveals Which Young Star He Believes Will Be Ready for the Playoffs

LeBron James and the Lakers continue on with their playoff push. The Lakers just defeated Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors in an incredible blowout win, with extraordinary performance from many players on the roster. Aside from LeBron James, Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, and Talen Horton-Tucker scored points in the double digits.

LeBron James shows faith in THT

LeBron James spoke to the press after LA Lakers‘ massive victory. When asked about whom he believes is most prepared for the playoffs, James gave a surprising answer. He believes that Talen Horton-Tucker will be ready going into the playoffs, despite being new into the system. But he also noted that players like Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell will also be prepared.

“Talen (Horton-Tucker). He’s new. He got a little bit of minutes last year. But he’s new. We got veterans. I know Trez will be ready, I know Dennis will be ready. I know Marc will be ready for the post-season run. But Talen is new, pretty much to an extended season. But I know that he’ll be ready for it as well.”

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James mentioning Horton-Tucker by name comes as a bit of a surprise. While it is no secret that James is a big fan of ‘THT’, there are young players ahead of Tucker who has been playing at a high level. Kyle Kuzma has been playing at an extremely high level so far, especially in the absence of Anthony Davis. However, James didn’t mention him in the list.

Horton-Tucker has a big supporter in LBJ

James’ close friend and agent Rich Paul is also the agent of Talen Horton-Tucker, as part of his Klutch Sports agency. Needless to say, a young player doesn’t get that type of representation unless James and Paul see something in him. And so far, THT has been developing really well.

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Will Talen Horton-Tucker be the next breakout star for the Los Angeles Lakers? At just 20 years old, Tucker has been very impressive thus far. Furthermore, he has been trusted way more by the Lakers to play big minutes this season. While he is far from a finished product, the Lakers will be happy with the way he has developed so far.