PJ Tucker is leaving the LA Clippers as the team figures out the veteran forward’s future

HONOLULU – The LA Clippers and forward PJ Tucker have agreed that Tucker will be away from the team indefinitely while the two sides work to find a better situation for the 13-year veteran.

The LA Clippers announce that PJ Tucker will not be with the team indefinitely. pic.twitter.com/CUVpkDuZuf

— Law Murray 🏟️ (@LawMurrayTheNU) October 6, 2024

The team’s announcement came a day after a 91–90 preseason loss to the Golden State Warriors in which the 39-year-old Tucker was one of two available players who did not play. While veteran Nicolas Batum rested after a summer of competing for the silver medal-winning French national team at the Summer Olympics, Tucker was a coach’s decision not to play. Tucker was also the team’s only player not present at media day, although he did join the Clippers for training camp in Hawaii.

Tucker said The Athletics after Saturday’s game he announced that he is with the team ‘for the time being’, indicating that he is not happy with his status. It’s another event in a thread of a unideal union between Tucker and the Clippers since last year’s trade that sent Batum, Marcus Morris Sr., Robert Covington, KJ Martin and compensation to the Philadelphia 76ers for James Harden, Tucker and Filip Petrusev .

While that trade marked the end of Harden’s eventful standoff with Philadelphia and president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, it turned Tucker’s situation upside down. Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank praised Tucker for his toughness, and head coach Tyronn Lue immediately placed Tucker in the rotation as a backup power.

It wasn’t a good fit, especially offensively, as Tucker is only an average three-point shooter at this stage of his career and doesn’t provide a threat inside the arc or with the ball in his hands. Playing Tucker with another major hamstring crippled the Clippers’ offense, and the Clippers struggled to rebound when Tucker was under center. When the Clippers separated Harden and incumbent starting point guard Russell Westbrook on the first unit, Lue considered starting Tucker in the spot vacated by Westbrook before settling on Terance Mann, who won the starting job out of camp before suffering a sprained ankle got. But in late November, Tucker fell out of the rotation completely and was replaced by 2023 first-round pick Kobe Brown.

Tucker made it clear before the winter solstice that he wanted to be traded. Complicating matters on that front was the three-year, $33 million contract Tucker signed in 2022 to leave the Miami Heat and join the 76ers, reuniting him with former Rockets teammate Harden. Tucker’s contract was made possible by a sacrifice Harden made on his own contract, something the NBA did not appreciate as the league fined the 76ers and stripped them of a draft pick. Tucker was a starter for the 76ers in the first year of his contract, even starting the 2023-2024 season as the starter while Harden waited for a trade.

The Clippers did not play Tucker at all in December and January, although Tucker was with the team during practices and on the road. Tucker insisted he wouldn’t accept a buyout, and unsurprisingly, Tucker wasn’t traded before the February deadline. Before the Clippers’ final game before the All-Star break, a road trip to Golden State, Tucker and point guard Bones Hyland were deactivated and sent home. Lue said he appreciated that both players wanted to play and that they would both come back after the break with clearer minds. But even as he praised Tucker’s desire to play, Lue mentioned Tucker’s salary while joking about his age.

Tyronn Lue talks about PJ Tucker, Bones Hyland. Adds that Brandon Boston Jr. gets his chance tonight and expect Amir Coffey to start again with Kawhi Leonard out. pic.twitter.com/NYQfnYduBr

— Law Murray 🏟️ (@LawMurrayTheNU) February 14, 2024

“You have guys like PJ, who has a year left on his contract. He could ride off into the sunset, he’s 70 years old,” Lue said the morning after Tucker and Hyland were sent home.

Tucker’s participation increased after the All-Star break, as he played in 16 of 29 games. The Clippers continued to struggle in Tucker’s minutes, and he was not in the rotation to start the Western Conference quarterfinals against the Dallas Mavericks. Lue didn’t turn to Tucker until the second half of Game 5, the worst loss in franchise history, a loss that brought the Clippers to the brink of elimination. Lue surprisingly started Tucker in Game 6 in Dallas, in place of Amir Coffey with Kawhi Leonard out due to right knee inflammation. The results were as expected, with the Clippers being significantly outplayed in Tucker’s minutes to start both halves and end the season.

Tucker has since exercised the final year of his contract, which will pay him $11.5 million. The Clippers were amused by trading Tucker because they don’t want to be on the hook for the final year of his deal while he plays elsewhere. The Clippers similarly didn’t want to buy out Westbrook’s senior year after Westbrook opted in, and LA found a trade partner in the Utah Jazz, acquiring guard Kris Dunn in the process; Westbrook was waived by the Jazz and signed with the Denver Nuggets.

Ideally, the Clippers would have kept Tucker with the team until the winter, when the trade market offers more realistic options. Tucker’s high salary could then help the Clippers complete a trade. But Tucker has such limited trade value that it would certainly cost the Clippers a lot of money to move him. It’s not that the Clippers don’t have weak positions. The offense lacks consistent shooting threats, especially with Leonard out indefinitely attending to his right knee rehab, and there is no reliable backup center. New signing Mo Bamba was held out of scrimmages and the preseason opener due to left knee soreness, while 2021 first-round pick Kai Jones has yet to make the team after appearing in zero NBA games last season.

The Clippers are no strangers to having disgruntled veterans on the team during the preseason. Last year it was Morris Sr. who was waiting to be traded while being ruled out of all preseason games and not making the first regular season road trip to Utah. But even Morris was still with the team entering the second week of the preseason and then through his participation in the trade that brought Harden and Tucker to the Clippers. Tucker and the Clippers didn’t even get that far this year.

(Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)