P.J. Tucker is frustrated in new role with Clippers
After Daryl Morey, the Philadelphia 76ers’ president of basketball operations, refused to pay James Harden and didn’t trade him to the Los Angeles Clippers–his preferred destination–over the offseason, the partnership soured quickly.
Harden ultimately got his wish and was flipped to the Los Angeles Clippers a week after the 2023-24 season tipped off in a seven-player trade. Among those included was 38-year-old veteran P.J. Tucker, whose frustration has reportedly festered, given his very limited role, after a month with his new team.
“P.J. Tucker has expressed frustration about his current situation with the team,” NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic wrote Monday. “Both sides are discussing ways to resolve a role for him there or elsewhere, according to league sources.”
While he’s not a statistical darling, the 13-year NBA veteran has been a reliable defensive cog on contenders throughout his NBA career.
“We’ve admired P.J. for a long time because of his toughness and physicality,” Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, said after the Harden-Clippers trade via release. “He competes every night and he defends across virtually every position. We believe he’ll bolster our frontcourt and fit our locker room.”
Tucker helped lead the Milwaukee Bucks to their first NBA Title in a half-century in 2020-21; he helped spring the Miami Heat to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021-22 and was the biggest beneficiary of the Houston Rockets’ renowned five-out offense and small-ball nature in the mid-2010s.
Offensively, Tucker specializes as a corner 3-point shooter. But he especially became known as a tough and gritty team-defender, despite being undersized (6-foot-5) relative to the modern-day wing. It’s safe to say that has not translated to the Clippers, where he’s hardly seeing the court–hence the frustration.
Since returning to the NBA ahead of 2012-13 after a five-year stint overseas, Tucker never averaged below 24 minutes heading to 2023-24. Though ever since joining Los Angeles, he’s racked up seven consecutive DNP-CDs. He played 15 or fewer minutes in seven of the team’s previous 12 games, including a six-minute stint against the Denver Nuggets on Nov. 27–the most recent game he’s played.
In total, he’s averaged 14.4 minutes since joining the Clippers after 22.1 minutes in three games with Philadelphia this season. But not getting any playing team is a far cry from what Tucker–who is still capable of positively impacting a team, despite being a negative offensive player–is used to. The Clippers are going eight-to-nine players deep right now, particularly with recently-acquired Daniel Theis and rookie Kobe Brown filling in the back of their rotation.
Tucker’s contract makes the situation even murkier. He’s on the hook for $11.0 million this season with a $11.5 million player option in 2024-25, according to Spotrac. The Clippers could buy out Tucker, but that would mean they would eat a sizeable portion of his remaining $22.5 salary, which doesn’t appear to be likely.
If any team could theoretically do it, it’s Steve Ballmer’s Clippers. But trading Tucker–albeit at his lowest value–ahead of the Feb. 8 trade deadline appears to be the most and best possible outcome for both sides. It just comes down to whether another team is willing to part with assets–especially for money-matching purposes–to land Tucker.
“I don’t have a role on this team right now,” Tucker told ClutchPoints’ Tomer Azarly Monday. “I’m not playing. I’m out of the lineup. It was a decision that was made, and I’m living with it right now. But obviously, I feel like I still got a lot to contribute to a team to be able to win, whether that’s here or somewhere else. And here, it’s just not there right now. So I want to do what I can do.
“I know myself, my worth. I know what I bring. I know what I’ve brought. I know what I can continue to bring. And with that, I want to be able to go to a good team that I can be able to help that.”
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