Shooting was undoubtedly an issue for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2020-21 season. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope served as the team’s best shooter by a considerable margin. Meanwhile, Kyle Kuzma — who was hesitant at times — still had one of the team’s best shooting percentages.
One of the Lakers’ main rotational players, Talen Horton-Tucker, shot an abysmal 28.2% from three-point range during the season. Long-range shooting remains one of his biggest question marks as a player moving forward and could impact his value in the restricted free agent market.
To remedy this, Horton-Tucker is spending the summer working on his jump shot with Chris Matthews, a.k.a. Lethal Shooter, who was the shooting coach for both Caldwell-Pope and Kuzma, via Twitter:
THT working on his jumpshot with Lethal Shooter! @Thortontucker x @LethalShooter__ pic.twitter.com/r0ZElvenZb
— Cancun LakersvsHaters (@LakersvHaters) June 30, 2021
While there have been some mixed reviews about the results of Lethal Shooter’s work, there’s no denying that the shooting percentages have improved with both Kuzma and Caldwell-Pope.
Kuzma worked with Lethal Shooter in the summer of 2019 after shooting 30.3% from three the season before. In the two seasons since, he’s shot 31.6% and 36.1%, respectively. Meanwhile, Caldwell-Pope’s shooting percentages have gone up each of the last three seasons.
Hopefully, Horton-Tucker sees a similar improvement, as it would help drastically to open up his game. He is already well beyond his years when it comes to attacking the basket and finishing at the rim, but it’s time for his three-point shooting to make that leap.
Horton-Tucker shares intense offseason workout
This is not the first time that Horton-Tucker’s offseason training has been displayed on social media. Shortly after the Lakers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, Horton-Tucker was seen undergoing an intense boxing workout.
Perhaps all of this is to drive up his free-agent value. However, anything that helps take his game to the next level would be beneficial for the Lakers should he remain with the team this offseason.