Should the Lakers look into trading for P.J. Tucker?
P.J. Tucker’s $11.5 million salary could be a big obstacle for most teams, but not the Lakers if they were interested in the wing.
The 2024-25 NBA season has begun, but Los Angeles Clippers forward P.J. Tucker is away from the team “for the time being,” according to longtime NBA insider Marc Stein. It was a mutual decision as the Clippers work “to find the best situation for him moving forward.”
On Thursday, Kelly Iko and Law Murray of The Athletic reported that a number of contenders, including the 76ers, Heat, Bucks and Suns, had already “held trade conversations” with Tucker’s agent. The Lakers were notably absent from that list, but they might be a more realistic trade partner than any of those four.
Just like the Lakers, all four of the Sixers, Heat, Bucks and Suns are well over the first apron. That means none of those teams can take back a single dollar more in salary than they send out in any trade. Tucker, who’s in the final year of his three-year, $33 million contract, is earning roughly $11.5 million this season.
Other than Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey, the Sixers don’t have anyone earning more than $8.5 million this season. To acquire Tucker via trade, they’d have to send back KJ Martin ($8.0 million) and one of Caleb Martin ($8.1 million), Kelly Oubre Jr. ($8.0 million), Andre Drummond ($5.0 million) or rookie guard Jared McCain ($4.0 million). Unless the Clippers were willing to include additional compensation, none of those frameworks would make sense for the Sixers.
The Suns are in a similar boat. Much like the Sixers did with KJ Martin, the Suns signed Josh Okogie to a two-year, $16 million contract this offseason in part to use him as salary-matching trade fodder. However, they’d have to combine his salary with two minimum contracts to match Tucker’s deal. Otherwise, they’d have to flip one of Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen or Royce O’Neale in a Tucker trade.
The Bucks are, again, similarly top-heavy with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez each earning at least $23 million this season. Bobby Portis ($12.6 million) is their only other player above $10 million. Pat Connaughton ($9.4 million) and a minimum salary would fall roughly $30,000 short of the salary-matching needed for Tucker, so they’d have to include either AJ Johnson ($2.8 million) or MarJon Beauchamp ($2.7 million) with him instead.
The Heat have Duncan Robinson’s $19.4 million contract to dangle, but the Clippers would have to include additional salary to satisfy the league’s trade rules. Since the Clippers are below the first apron, they can take back $7.5 million more than they send out as long as they stay under the first apron after the deal. That could be as simple as throwing in Kevin Porter Jr. or Mo Bamba, provided the Heat are willing to part with Robinson for Tucker.
None of those teams have a straightforward path to adding Tucker via trade, though, particularly if the Clippers aren’t willing to include additional assets to sweeten the deal. That isn’t the case for the Lakers, who have plenty of mid-sized contracts to dangle.
Gabe Vincent ($11.0 million) and Jarred Vanderbilt ($10.7 million) would be the obvious candidates to serve as the primary salary fodder in a Tucker deal. Given the questions about Vanderbilt’s health and his positional overlap with Tucker, he could make sense to send out. If the Lakers aren’t confident in his ability to remain healthy, flipping him for Tucker’s expiring contract would come with the added benefit of giving them extra flexibility next offseason.
Since Vanderbilt is earning only $600,000 less than Tucker this season, the Lakers could include any of their minimum contracts — yes, even Bronny James — to satisfy the salary-matching rules for Tucker. Since the Clippers would stay below the first apron if they flipped Tucker for Vanderbilt and a minimum deal, they could take back more salary than they sent out in a trade with the Lakers.
To be clear, this is purely hypothetical right now. The Lakers have not been connected to Tucker in any trade rumors to date, though they were reportedly interested in him back in 2021. Trading the 25-year-old Vanderbilt for the 39-year-old Tucker would only make sense if the Lakers are really worried that Vando might be cooked.
However, the Clippers are soft-launching into a semi-rebuild in the wake of George’s departure to the Sixers in free agency. They might be willing to gamble on absorbing Vanderbilt’s multi-year contract if it only costs them Tucker. They’re in far less of win-now mode than the Lakers.
The Lakers don’t figure to rush into any trades this season. They should want to see how they coalesce under new head coach JJ Redick, particularly once Vanderbilt returns. But the mid-sized contracts of Vincent and Vanderbilt will give them more trade flexibility than most title hopefuls have this season.
That could come in handy down the road, whether for Tucker or someone else.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Salary Swish and salary-cap information via RealGM.