Not retired, but no one wants it

There is a very famous joke in the NBA. It is called "Produced by the Lakers, it must be a fine product."

The Lakers gathered a bunch of young talents back then, but they couldn't achieve any results. After they walked out one by one, they almost became stars. No matter how bad they were, they were starters or major rotation players.

Russell and Randall became All-Stars after leaving the Lakers - of course Russell is now going to the Mavericks - Clarkson has been the super sixth man, Ingram has been the core of the Pelicans, Kuzma was once one of the three Wizards, and Ronzo Ball was also highly expected by the Bulls before repeated serious injuries.

Hart is the defensive pillar of the Knicks and a super model worker.

The protagonist of this article also wants to copy this path at the beginning, and he is Holden Tucker.

This Tucker was once a very favorite player of the Lakers. In the 2019 NBA Draft, Tucker was selected by the Lakers in the 46th overall pick in the second round and quickly became a team favorite.

Not only did active teammates love him, but Lakers history legend Johnson also praised him, which made many people think that he was a relationship owner.

is 193 cm tall and has a wingspan of 217 cm. He is a Gibbon and has a talent. The rookie contract of the second round pick expired soon. Tucker easily obtained a three-year, $30.78 million contract extension in the summer of 2022, and also has a player option in the 2023-24 season.

You should know that the Lakers were very "stingy" during the offseason that year, and they threw out several basic salary contracts of 2.6 million yuan in a year to recruit veterans. But in Tucker, the Lakers not only rejected all trade proposals involving him, but also made Tucker's annual salary reach $9.5 million, ranking fourth in the Lakers at that time.

But in the end, Tucker's progress was too small, and he was finally abandoned by the Lakers and sent to the Jazz in a deal.

The Jazz are in the reconstruction period in recent years. There is no hope for the playoffs, so they completely let go and start training young people, giving everyone a lot of training opportunities.

In such a unrestrained training environment, thick-skinned people will be the first to stand out, so Tucker played.

In a game against the Spurs in March 2023, Tucker showed his might and contributed 16 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal in the first quarter. He scored 11 points in the second quarter.

Tuck scored another 9 points and 3 assists in the third quarter. At this time, the Jazz had already shown a trend of opening up the score, so he only played 3 minutes in the final quarter and then got off work.

In the whole game, Tucker scored a career-high 41 points, and scored 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal, which was majestic.

It can be seen that Tucker has a variety of offensive methods, he can easily get a mid-range backward jump shot, and he is also very skilled in making a backhand layup in the fast break, completely losing his awkwardness when he was in the Lakers.

This is not the first time Tucker has exploded with the Jazz. He played 12 games during that time, scored in double digits in 10 times, and scored 9 points in the other two times.

led the Jazz away against the Hornets a little earlier, and Tucker scored 37 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists with a quasi-triple double-digit data, which amazed the whole game. 41+37, such a explosive scoring performance, but Tucker left everything to the Jazz and even the entire NBA. The Jazz decided to get on the right track and no longer allowed players to shoot birds. After straightening Markanen, Clarkson and Sexton also fell out of favor.

In the 2023-24 season, Tucker's playing time has dropped to the lowest 19.8 minutes since his rookie season, with averaging 10.1 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, and his shooting percentage is only 39.6%. In the 2024-25 season, Tucker, who moved to the Bulls, only averaged 12.5 minutes of playing time, and could only contribute 6.5 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists. His three shooting percentages were 45.7%, 33.6% and 73.5%. His efficiency seemed OK, but it was indeed optional.

The contract expired this summer, and Tucker couldn't find a job in the NBA. He was only 24 years old and was far from when he retired, but no one wanted it anymore.

In the end, Tucker accepted the contract of the Turkish League powerhouse Fenerbahce men's basketball team, which is expected to be $1 million in one year, and is waiting for official announcement.

US media NBA Memes was also very sad. He wrote today: "Recall that BR once ranked Tucker above Alexander on the list of best players under the age of 24."

The former Lakers darling who is only 24 years old may have bid farewell to the NBA like this, which is also very sad.