LeBron James praises Lakers’ youngster Talen Horton-Tucker after big win against Warriors

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers have continued their great form this season as they recently defeated Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors. James came up with a stellar triple double performance to simply outrun the Warriors in a 127-99 win over Steve Kerr’s men.

The 36-year-old NBA legend came with 22 points alongside 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Apart from James, Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, and Talen Horton-Tucker also scored double digit points.

The 17-time NBA All Star spoke about the Lakers’ big win over the Warriors, as he mentioned about the players who are most ready for the upcoming playoffs this season. Although he praised Montrezl Harrell and Dennis Schroder, he surprisingly also mentioned Talen Horton-Tucker’s name. James felt that the youngster has seamlessly gotten along with the Lakers despite being a new member.

“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 postseason run. But Talen is new, pretty much to an extended season. But I know that he’ll be ready for it as well.”

While James mentioning and praising a youngster may come as a surprise to many but he has been a big supporter of Talen Horton-Tucker. There are several other young players like Kyle Kuzma who has grown in stature in the last couple of years but James feels more connected to Horton-Tucker. It is because the youngster is a part of the Klutch Sports Agency with James’ close friend and agent Rich Paul being his agent as well. So the 20-year old would not have got such representation without James and Paul’s support as they certainly see something in him than the other young players. So far the youngster has not disappointed them and the Lakers fans.

The fans and the players have already started calling him ‘THT’ and his development has really impressed the players and the Lakers’ management. He has been a very handy option for head coach Frank Vogel and whenever called upon he has not disappointed his teammates. However, he is still far from a finished player but there’s something about him that has impressed everyone and especially LeBron James.