Rayjon Tucker: Everything Utah Jazz fans need to know about him

If you’ve never heard of Rayjon Tucker before, you’re not alone. Jazz fans might not know much about him, but given his impressive track record of scoring, defense and athletic ability in college and the G-League, his services could prove valuable.

On the 29 of December, a single, three-hour period had Utah Jazz fans refreshing Twitter as fast as humanly possible. During that window of time, the Jazz had released Jeff Green, moved Dante Exum and a pair of second-round picks to Cleveland for Jordan Clarkson, and signed Rayjon Tucker, a shooting guard from the Wisconsin Herd of the G-League.

Green’s time with Utah was underwhelming, to say the least. In 30 games, he averaged 7.8 points to go along with 0.7 assists and 2.7 rebounds. To the surprise of nobody, it’s widely assumed that Green will seek to sign with and play out the remainder of the season with a title contender.

On the flip side of things, though Jazz fans might’ve been pleased to show Green the door, they couldn’t have been happier to roll out the proverbial red carpet for Clarkson’s arrival. As first reported by Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune, it took Clarkson a mere three games to accomplish what the rest of Utah’s bench failed to do in 30 — drop at least 20 points in a game.

Lost in all of this, however, is the fact that the Jazz have retained Tucker’s services. No, he doesn’t have Green’s “veteran” status or Clarkson’s gun-slinging mentality off the bench, but don’t go thinking quite yet that he can’t provide any kind of meaningful minutes for this team.

The truth of the matter?

Jazz fans might not know much about Tucker, but if they did some digging then they would like what they find. To date, he’s only logged two minutes of garbage time against the Pistons during the Jazz’s 23-point pummeling on Monday night. Though the game was all but wrapped up by the time Tucker checked in, he did manage two points and a rebound before the final whistle.

To really understand what Tucker’s capable of providing, it’s best to take a look at where he’s come from. Tucker played college ball for two years at Florida Gulf Coast University from 2015 to 2017. He then sat out a year in order to transfer to Little Rock University for his junior year. This would prove to be his final year of college hoops as he declared for the NBA draft shortly after.

Unfortunately for Tucker, he went undrafted.

Still, the numbers he produced during his final years of college ball were impressive enough that NBA scouts couldn’t help but keep an eye on him. At Little Rock University, he averaged 20.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists in just over 36 minutes per game — including shooting a remarkable 49.1 percent from the field and 41.1 percent from beyond the three-point line.

In the G-League, Tucker was arguably the best player amongst all teams. Earlier today, he was named the G-League’s Player of the Month for December, averaging 28.7 points, 2.9 assists and 4.4 rebounds while shooting 51.1 percent from the floor. Through 16 games with the Herd, Tucker also shot 38.6 percent from beyond the arc, further solidifying his résumé as a scorer.

Perhaps what’s most attractive about what Tucker brings to the hardwood, however, is a six-foot five-inch frame with freak athleticism. In fact, Tucker’s arrival in Utah won’t make it the first time he’ll have met Donovan Mitchell. Mitchell remembers going against him in a high school dunk contest back in 2015.

Of the experience, recalled Mitchell to Sarah Todd of Deseret News:

"“I remember that like it was yesterday. He jumps higher than me, for sure, I’ll give him that. But we’ll have to definitely run it back, because he came in second, I came came in third.”"

It’s this kind of athleticism — combined with his raw scoring ability, of course — that led to a six-team bidding ward for Tucker’s services throughout the league in December. As reported by Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune, the Jazz had always shown interest in Tucker, even bringing him in for a serious pre-draft workout this past Summer.

Ultimately, in order to secure Tucker’s services, Dennis Lindsey and Justin Zanik felt it best to offer Tucker a full roster guarantee as a tiebreaker of sorts — it worked.

Green’s out; Tucker’s in.

As far as Tucker’s role with the Jazz is concerned, for the time being, it’s unlikely that Tucker’s minutes immediately fill the void created by Green’s departure. Tucker’s a high-energy athlete who can slash, score and play defense, but look for Juwan Morgan and Jarrell Brantley to get the favorable nod from coach Quin Snyder before Tucker does.

There are a number of undrafted NBA players who’ve gone on to create meaningful careers for themselves in the league: Kent Bazemore, Wesley Matthews and J.J. Barea, just to name a few. Could Rayjon Tucker add his name to this list? It’s unlikely, but you never know — if he has the talent, the Jazz is certainly the organization to make it happen.