The LA Clippers and P.J. Tucker mutually agreed that the veteran won’t be with the team for the time being while they work to find him a different situation.
“P.J. is a pro who has achieved a lot in his career and there’s more he wants to accomplish,” the Clippers said in a statement Sunday. “We will continue working with P.J. and his representative to find the best situation for him moving forward.”
Tucker picked up his $11.5 million player option for this season, the final year of a three-year, $33 million deal he signed with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2022.
The Clippers acquired Tucker, 39, from the Sixers in the James Harden trade early last season. He played sparingly in LA, appearing in only 28 games while averaging 1.6 points.
This is the second time that Tucker will be apart from the team since he came in the Harden trade. The Clippers sent Tucker and point guard Bones Hyland away from the team on Feb. 14 with one game left before last season’s All-Star break to clear their minds before rejoining the team in the first game out of the break in Oklahoma City on Feb. 22. Both were unhappy with their roles.
Last season, Tucker was frustrated with his lack of playing time and was fined $75,000 by the NBA for what the league described as public comments about expressing a desire to be traded in February.
Tucker told ESPN in early February — before the trade deadline — that he was “actively trying to get traded.” He reiterated his desire to Andscape on the week of the Feb. 8 trade deadline.
“I want to be somewhere where I’m needed, wanted and can do it all,” Tucker told Andscape then. “I don’t know what’s going to happen but I have my fingers crossed and I’m hoping to go somewhere else, whether I get bought out and choose where I go or where I can play.”
ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this story.
