The LA Clippers sent home two players — P.J. Tucker and Bones Hyland — from their road trip against the Golden State Warriors, and both players are expected to rejoin the team after the All-Star break, league sources confirmed to The Athletic on Wednesday.
Amid three months of frustrations, the Clippers and Tucker have had productive discussions this week about the disgruntled forward staying ready for potentially re-entering the rotation, according to league sources. The conversations stemmed from weeks of boiling frustrations surrounding Tucker and his lack of playing time, the sources said.
After The Athletic reported on Dec. 11 that Tucker and LA were discussing a resolution to his frustration via a move elsewhere or internally, no deal occurred at last week’s trade deadline. A buyout has not gained traction yet as Tucker has a $11.5 million player option for next season.
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Now, Tucker and the Clippers are expected to move forward after the All-Star break with an openness to re-inserting him into the rotation as the franchise enters the stretch run of the regular season and into the playoffs.
LA has had the NBA’s best record since December 1, going 27-7 in that time span. During that stretch, third-string point guard Bones Hyland has only played in seven games, none since January 31. Tucker has not played in a game since November 27.
Hyland and Tucker were not on the team’s trip to San Francisco for Wednesday night’s nationally televised game against the Warriors, the Clippers’ pre-All-Star break finale. This is the first time this season both players have been deactivated, and it comes with the team already shorthanded. All-Star power forward Kawhi Leonard was ruled out with a left adductor strain that Clippers coach Tyronn Lue attributed to hip soreness that Leonard has been playing through “for a little while.”
Tucker was included in the Nov. 1 trade that also brought guard James Harden from the Philadelphia 76ers to LA. The 76ers were starting Tucker, a 2021 NBA champion with the Milwaukee Bucks and postseason contributor to teams the Toronto Raptors, Houston Rockets and Miami Heat. Tucker was signed by Philadelphia in 2022 to a three-year contract that included a player option worth $11.5 million for the 2024-25 season.
While Tucker was in the rotation for first the 12 games of November, the Clippers lost the first six of those games in a row. There were multiple instances of LA beginning to phase Tucker out of the rotation earlier in November, such as a stint of 6:10 against the Dallas Mavericks where the Clippers were outscored by 20 points in those minutes. Tucker did not play in the second halves of his last two appearances, a win against the Mavericks at home on November 25 and a loss to the Denver Nuggets.
Afterward, rookie Kobe Brown replaced Tucker in the rotation, and news surfaced in December that Tucker and LA were working on a trade that never came.
Tucker shared with The Athletic that not playing prior to the trade deadline was a collaborative decision. But no trade was found, and Tucker has indicated he is not willing to give up his player option to get bought out.
“It was agreed upon that I would sit,” Tucker told The Athletic over the weekend. “I didn’t just sit, it was agreed upon. Until they moved me, I would sit. They didn’t do it. But (I) try to be professional, as professional as possible. But at the same time, if I don’t advocate for myself, who is? You know? But it is what it is, man.”
Tucker recounted his past experience when he got traded from the Rockets in 2021 to the Bucks as to how difficult it can be to move from one team to another after a season has already begun.
“Even when I went to Milwaukee, I went at the trade deadline,” Tucker said. “How hard it is. That s— is tough. Talk about how hard it is to go to a team that’s already been practicing, playing together since October. In February, March? It’s tough to get integrated. To learn everybody, to know how to play with everybody, figuring out the style of play. It ain’t just pick up when you just go out there and play.”
Even though the Clippers have been playing well, Tucker hinted that it would be hard to reintegrate him back into the rotation.
“Becoming teammates, you’re building bonds,” Tucker said. “Look, all that s— has to happen so fast. Even here. Now, it’s great now. But in the beginning, it was rocky. Everybody was questioning it. They didn’t know. So you have to take time when you have something built. Can’t just throw somebody out there, ‘Go play now.’ You know what I’m saying? It don’t work like that.
“So I don’t know where it goes from here. I don’t know. I know what they think is going to happen. But I don’t think it happens like that. Just throw somebody in the playoffs in the second round. ‘Alright, now go do what you do.’ Don’t work like that.”
Tucker also described how having him in a situational role in the playoffs would be challenging if he is not playing in the regular season.
“That’s not realistic to me,” Tucker said of playing only in the playoffs. “Just the realization to me, the fans and people have no idea really what’s going on, and what it’s like sitting and waiting to be traded and whatever because of decisions the front office has made. Where the player isn’t playing because of decisions and stuff that players aren’t able to talk about. You can’t say nothing about it. And sitting through that for someone like me, who’s been on, last six, seven years, legitimate teams.
“Three or four teams I think every year really got a chance to win it. I’ve been on those types of teams. Won a championship. One game from the Eastern Conference Finals last year. One game from the Finals the year before, Conference Finals. consecutive years. No, just play in the playoffs. It’s tough. It’s tough.”
Lue addressed Hyland and Tucker’s deactivation ahead of the All-Star break as a good opportunity for both players to reset after the trade deadline came and went last week without a transaction involving either. Lue, a two-time NBA champion as a player, looks at the break as a good thing for both players given their frustrations with not being in the rotation.
“You want to have competitors on your team,” Lue said Wednesday morning at shootaround. “They want to play. So when you try to get traded, it doesn’t work out, and you want to go to a place you want to play, it doesn’t mean they’re not happy here. They are. But they want to play, they want to compete.”
Lue also specifically mentioned Tucker’s player option as part of the consideration of Tucker’s frustration.
“You got guys like P.J., who has another year left on his deal, he could ride off into the sunset, he’s 70 years old,” Lue said of Tucker, who turns 39 in May. “You know? But he wants to play. He wants to compete. So you understand, you want guys like that. So the trade didn’t happen. They’re going to be here. We’re just giving them a little time off, you know, get their minds right. And come back to Oklahoma City ready to go.”
Hyland’s situation was simple prior to the Harden trade. He was preparing to be the backup point guard behind Russell Westbrook after he was brought over in a trade from the eventual champion Nuggets at the 2023 trade deadline. Hyland even started the November 1 game against the Los Angeles Lakers, which was Tucker’s Clippers debut.
But when the Clippers moved Westbrook to the second unit to allow Harden to be the sole primary playmaker in the starting lineup, Hyland’s rotation spot was lost due to the spots on the depth chart. Harden and Westbrook have yet to miss a game since Harden’s Clippers debut, and backup shooting guard Norman Powell has also played in every game this season. The Clippers don’t want to be too small, so there are no minutes for Hyland.
Hyland has made sure to encourage his teammates during games, but he has struggled to perform in garbage time, missing 25 of 32 shots and 13 of 16 3s while the Clippers have been outscored by 59 points in his 50 minutes since December 1. There have been several garbage time games where Hyland hasn’t played at all, an indication that the team has wanted more from him in terms of meeting expectations in practice and other developmental settings.
“The team we got now, we’ve been playing at a high level right now,” Lue said. “It’s not any room right now. So they understand that they want to play and compete. They didn’t get traded, they’re going to be here. And we want to give them a little time, get their heads right, come back to Oklahoma City and be ready to go.”
Leonard, per team sources, is expected to be in Indiana for the All-Star break. His playing status will be determined later, though Lue said, “I think the All-Star break will get him ready to play, I hope,” for next week’s games against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies.
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Christine Lake is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. With an extensive background in sports journalism, he covers everything from major league championships to grassroots sports events. When she’s not on the field or at the stadium, you’ll find Christine coaching youth sports teams.
