{"id":94366,"date":"2024-09-04T21:13:47","date_gmt":"2024-09-05T01:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=94366"},"modified":"2024-09-04T21:13:47","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T01:13:47","slug":"nba-champion-agrees-to-contract-with-rebuilding-bulls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/04\/nba-champion-agrees-to-contract-with-rebuilding-bulls\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Champion Agrees To Contract With Rebuilding Bulls"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Wednesday, former second-round pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hortota01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Talen Horton-Tucker<\/a> \u201cagreed to a partially guaranteed deal\u201d with the rebuilding Chicago Bulls, per The Athletic insider Shams Charania.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Free agent guard Talen Horton-Tucker has agreed to a partially guaranteed deal with the Chicago Bulls, sources tell <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheAthletic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheAthletic<\/a>. The Chicago native returns home and will have an opportunity to make Bulls roster after averaging 10.5 points over the last two seasons in Utah. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YPoIfrurh7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/YPoIfrurh7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1831478031195762953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 4, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Horton-Tucker graduated from Simeon Career Academy, located on the Southside of the Chicago, after leading the program to three consecutive City Championships. If he should make the 15-man roster, he\u2019ll join <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/buzelma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matas Buzelis<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dosunay01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ayo Dosunmu<\/a> as the team\u2019s homegrown talents.<\/p>\n<p>The five-year veteran holds career averages of 9.8 points, 3.1 assists, and 0.9 steals per game. While playing with the Los Angeles Lakers during his rookie season, he was able to win a championship in the NBA Bubble. As a result, he\u2019d be the Bulls\u2019 only rostered title-winner.<\/p>\n<h2>Talen Horton-Tucker Agrees To Contract With Bulls<\/h2>\n<p>The Bulls have been quiet since their failed trades of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lavinza01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach LaVine<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/vucevni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Vucevic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Most likely, Bulls executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas has been working behind the scenes to get a deal done. With Chicago now buying into a youth movement, their focus is now on player development rather than the playoffs. As the Bulls don\u2019t have control over their 2025 first-round pick, there\u2019s no point in them tanking. Nonetheless, Chicago is looking to reset after a few fruitless seasons.<\/p>\n<p>That makes players like Horton-Tucker a solid addition. At 23 years old, he\u2019s more than young enough to grow with their core. With that being said, if he\u2019s able to run with the Bulls past next season, he might really soar. Chicago has four perimeter players whose contracts expire at the end of the season. They have another (LaVine) that <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/15\/bulls-worst-case-scenario-reality-after-failed-zach-lavine-trade\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">they\u2019re hoping to move<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word On Talen Horton-Tucker<\/h3>\n<p>Horton-Tucker is still looking for a long-term contract. 2024-25 might not be his year due the Bulls\u2019 wing depth. However, if he plays the long game, he might be able to stick in Chicago for a while.<\/p>\n<p>Signing a two-way contract with the Bulls might be best in order to ensure he maximizes his potential playing time. While Horton-Tucker is a talented player, the reality is that he\u2019s far too inconsistent in every area of the game. He\u2019s also a player without a natural position. He has the playmaking potential of a point guard, the mindset of a shooting guard, and the physique of an undersized small forward.<\/p>\n<p>Working on his defense, diet, and 3-point shooting will go a long way towards him having a long career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Wednesday, former second-round pick Talen Horton-Tucker \u201cagreed to a partially guaranteed deal\u201d with the rebuilding Chicago Bulls, per The Athletic insider Shams Charania. Free agent guard Talen Horton-Tucker has agreed to a partially guaranteed deal with the Chicago Bulls, sources tell @TheAthletic. The Chicago native returns home and will have an opportunity to make [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":94373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1608,62,3],"tags":[297,49503,2003],"class_list":["post-94366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bulls","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-nba-training-camp","tag-talen-horton-tucker"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}