P.J. Tucker away from Clippers indefinitely

According to Marc J. Spears of Andscape, L.A. appears to be open to moving on from the former NBA champ.

“We’ve had ongoing conversations with P.J. throughout the offseason and have both decided that he won’t be with the team for the time being,” the Clippers revealed in a statement, shared by Spears. “P.J. is a pro who has achieved a lot in his career and there’s more he wants to accomplish. We will continue working with P.J. and his representative to find the best situation for him moving forward.”

Perhaps the two sides are hopeful to work out a trade of Tucker’s expiring $11.5M contract, but given his recent production, a buyout may be the inevitable fix.

Law Murray of The Athletic tweets that Tucker, who was a healthy scratch during the Clippers’ Saturday preseason bout against the Warriors, was the lone L.A. player to not attend the team’s media day festivities last Monday.

The 6-foot-5 combo forward was long a venerated three-and-D role player on several deep playoff clubs in Houston, Miami and Milwaukee, with whom he won a title as a starter in 2021. The Texas alum was traded to the Clippers from the Sixers midway through 2023-24, as part of the deal that also landed James Harden in L.A.

Now 39, Tucker had his least-productive season last year as a fringe rotation player with both Philadelphia and L.A. He logged averages of 1.7 points on .360/.371/1.000 shooting splits, 2.7 rebounds, 0.5 steals and 0.5 blocks a night across 31 appearances with both clubs. As a deep bench piece, the aging pro could still have value to a contending franchise.

Even during his most prolific offensive season, 2013-14 with the Suns, Tucker averaged a fairly modest 9.4 points on a .431/.387/.776 slash line, along with 6.5 boards, 1.7 assists and 1.4 swipes. He finished 12th in Defensive Player of the Year voting that season, his best such showing.