Top 3 landing spots for PJ Tucker in 2021 NBA Free Agency
2021 NBA champion PJ Tucker is set to enter 2021 NBA free agency as one of the most coveted unrestricted free agents. His stock saw a significant rise after his brilliant outing in the 2021 NBA Playoffs for the Milwaukee Bucks.
PJ Tucker proved that despite being 36 years of age, he still has a lot to offer to a playoff-contending team looking to win it all. The series against the Brooklyn Nets, in particular, caught the eye of potential suitors for Tucker.
PJ Tucker took up the challenge of guarding the Nets' best player, Kevin Durant, and was brilliant in the way he executed his job against arguably one of the greatest offensive players of all time.
PJ Tucker's stingy defense is one of his best traits, and multiple title-contending teams are looking for a player of his caliber on the market this offseason.
On that note, let's take a look at three teams that could be the top landing spots for PJ Tucker in free agency.
#3 Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks desperately need to add more defenders to their squad to compete with the rest of the Western Conference. They showed a lot of promise in the 2021 NBA Playoffs after leading the LA Clippers 2-0 and 3-2 during their first-round series matchups. However, they ended up losing the series 3-4 after seven games. It was evident that the Marc Cuban-owned franchise needed to make significant upgrades to their roster to make a deep playoff run.
Aside from adding more shooters and a ball-handler, adding a defensive-minded player is also a must for the Mavericks. Having said that, PJ Tucker appears to be a viable option for them to consider. He can guard players 1 to 5 and will embrace the challenge of limiting the opponent's best player when asked to do it. The Mavericks do not have that kind of player in their squad at the moment.
The Mavericks have $34 million available in cap space in free agency and have a lot of impending decisions to make surrounding the future of some of their own free agents as well. The most notable of the lot is Tim Hardaway Jr., who was most certainly the second-best offensive player on the team after Luka Doncic last season.
As per Michael Scotto and Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype, PJ Tucker is likely to get offers of around more than the 2-year $17 million player option that the Houston Rockets offered to him. Even if the Mavericks do end up offering Tucker a $10 million deal annually, they will still have a significant amount of cap space to work with, along with the $9.5 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception they have.
The Mavericks can still re-sign Tim Hardaway Jr., who will likely command upwards of $20 million a year in free agency and continue to add other role players to build a solid contending team to compete for the title.
Also Read: NBA Rumors: LA Lakers open to moving on from Dennis Schroder after less than an ideal 2020/21 season