Talen Horton-Tucker had a bad season for the Utah Jazz, you can't really argue that point. While he averaged 10 points, 3.5 assists, and 2.4 rebounds, he shot just 39.6% from the floor, 33% from three and had 1.3 turnovers per game. Not the worst we've ever seen, but bad enough that we were calling for him to be traded come the NBA Trade Deadline.
To be clear, we wanted to trade him, in part, due to his poor play but mostly because of his contract. We were of the mindset that the Utah Jazz wanted to win this season, because they said so, and we all saw his contract as a means to an end to making a trade happen. For this past season, he made over $11 million.
A pretty good sum to add to a trade to land a major player. Sadly, the Jazz opted to trade away pieces, not trade for pieces. That decision led the Jazz to tank, and for the core reason to trade Horton-Tucker to disappear.
He's now a free agent and I'd be shocked, just simply shocked, if he made anywhere close to $11 million again per season. His next contract might be for $11 million total, which makes more sense, but he's not going to get $30+ million on his next deal.
It's for that reason and the fact that he is a good defender, that Horton-Tucker should be brought back. Horton-Tucker in 2023-2024 was a starter and key rotation player, who wasn't good enough to do either role. On a better Jazz team, where he's the 9th, 10th, or even 11th guy off the bench, Horton-Tucker can give you very good defense.
He's offensively a liability and he believes in his offensive talents too much to think that his confidence is a good thing, but his defense is good enough to warrant a roster spot. Just as long as he's only ever used as a defensive stopper or is simply a bench guy to give minutes in a blowout or,w a worst-case scenario, an injury situation.