Clippers reportedly give P.J. Tucker’s agent permission to find trade

P.J. Tucker remains away from the Los Angeles Clippers to start the season. The Clippers tried to find a trade for the veteran forward at the trade deadline last February and again during the offseason, but could not find a deal they liked.

Now the Clippers are giving his agent a chance to find one, reports Chris Haynes.

Four teams with playoff aspirations — and all that Tucker has played for before — have some level of interest, reports Kelly Iko and Law Murray of The Athletic. They are Philadelphia, Miami, Milwaukee and Phoenix.

“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 said during training camp, announcing Tucker would be away from the team. “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.”

There are two challenges in making a Tucker trade right now. The first is that this early in the season, teams kind of want to see what they have with their roster before making trades for role players. There is no urgency on their part.

The second, more challenging issue is Tucker, 39, makes $11.5 million this season (in the final year of his contract), and the playoff/contending teams he wants to go to are restricted by hard caps and salary-matching requirements tied to luxury tax aprons. The Clippers are also hard-capped at the first apron and are about $600,000 below that number, so they cannot take on more cash in a trade. Any deal will have to be almost exactly dollar-for-dollar, and that’s difficult to put together.

Now Tucker’s agent can at least go look for those deals. The question is if one is out there.