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Summary
Lakers fans have hopped all aboard the Horton-Tucker train, as he has become the shiny new toy that fans are clamoring for Frank Vogel to use more often. Horton-Tucker has shown flashes of legitimate off-the-bounce game. He attacks the rim hard, has ability to create his shot at multiple levels, and has real confidence on the offensive end. He also has some real defensive potential with his athleticism and long wingspan. He also seems to have pretty good feel on that end, and gives good effort on defense.
 
However, I think we may be getting ahead of ourselves a little bit considering Horton-Tucker still hasn't gotten a ton of high-level experience. De'Anthony Melton got a 4-year, $35 million contract last summer, and while he had proven more than Horton-Tucker has so far, I think that should be a similar kind of offer that we can expect for the former Hawkeye. He'll still only be 20 years old when he hits free agency this summer, and 20 year old free agents don’t come along everyday, so that should help increase his interest. 
 
Cap Considerations
Horton-Tucker will be a restricted free agent with a $1.9 million cap hold and Qualifying Offer, and the Lakers will have his Early Bird rights. If the Lakers re-sign Horton-Tucker using the Early-Bird Exception, they could offer him a starting salary of up to 105% of the average salary this past season (roughly $10 million).
 
Since Horton-Tucker will only have two years of service, he will be subject to the Gilbert Arenas provision. This means that any offer sheet he signs with a team besides the Lakers can have a starting maximum salary of $9.5 million, but the third and potentially fourth years of that contract can have a large jump (up to the max). His cap hit would then be the average salary over the life of the contract.
 
If the Lakers match, they could choose for his cap hit to either be his actual salary per season or the average over the life of the contract, provided the average fits within the Early Bird Exception. I do not expect this to come into play for Horton-Tucker, as I think any offers for him would fit within the full Non-Taxpayer MLE.

Potential Teams: Lakers, Thunder, Spurs, Knicks, Hornets

Predicted Contract: 3-year, $25 million with the Lakers.

Actual Contract: 3-year, $30.8 million with the Lakers.

Horton-Tucker wasn't able to get a big Arenas-provision offer sheet, but did get a solid contract to return to Los Angeles, and will be an interesting piece on this new-look Lakers team.

Last updated: 8/18/2021

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