Taurean Prince and the Bucks agree to a trade that fills another open roster position.
The Milwaukee Bucks are a second-apron franchise, so their options in free agency this offseason were limited to veteran minimums. The three open roster spots were closer to the middle of the roster than the end, meaning Horst would need to find veteran players ready to contribute next season. In the 2024 NBA Draft, Bucks general manager Jon Horst selected two 19-year-olds who do not appear destined for heavy playing time in their rookie season.
The Bucks seemed to have identified one of those players on Monday when they reached a deal with combo guard Delon Wright, 32. Horst appears to have discovered another one of those guys on Wednesday, as free-agent forward Taurean Prince agreed to a one-year contract with a veteran-minimum.
Prince, 30, played in 78 games for the Los Angeles Lakers last season, including 49 starts for the team under head coach Darvin Ham, who is currently the main assistant coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. In 27 minutes per game, the eight-year NBA veteran averaged 8.9 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 39.6 percent from three point range on 4.6 attempts per game.
Although it’s possible that fans would want to call Prince a 3-and-D wing right away, identifying Prince as such is a little more difficult given his usage over the years. Positional estimations from Cleaning the Glass indicate that Prince played small forward about 70% of the time during his season in Los Angeles.
Prince has some potential for positional versatility, though, as those same estimations state that he played primarily as a power forward during his four seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Brooklyn Nets.
Horst has been searching for a player who can defend big wings around the league and play up a position to help unlock lineups that allow Giannis Antetokounmpo to play center for brief stretches during the regular season since the Bucks’ championship run in 2021, when PJ Tucker and Pat Connaughton helped the team flex into small-ball lineups during the postseason. Prince may not be that particular player, but given his abilities, it is at least conceivable.
Take a look at this play by Prince in the 2023โ24 In-Season Tournament versus Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant. (Take note of the color commentary for the game featuring current Bucks head coach Doc Rivers, and shield your eyes from the purple court.)
Prince was successful but not as physical as Tucker was in their notorious fight against Durant during the Bucks’ 2021 second-round showdown with the Brooklyn Nets. With a 7-foot wingspan, Prince was able to force Durant to touch the side of the backboard in addition to making things difficult for him when he got his hand on the ball during his shoot. Prince’s strength and length work nicely together to keep him ahead of opponents like Durant.
It is slightly harder for Prince to stay in front of speedier players like Los Angeles Clippers forward Paul George, even though he can still stay in front of opponents who love to search for their jumper and then bother them with his length.
Even though Prince is surprisingly nimble for someone his size and willing to give it a go against players like Denver Nuggets All-Star Jamal Murray, it is not advisable to think that he will be a lockdown defender against the league’s best shooting guards. However, his wingspan can help him get back into the play and bother players, like he did by stripping George on that shot attempt.
Prince should not be seen as a stopper, even though he did a commendable job fighting over the top of both screens established by Nikola Jokiฤ and forcing Murray to have a meaningful contest on that jumper. He is unquestionably a good defender, but Ham was forced to put him in dangerous situations far too frequently since the Lakers did not have many excellent defensive options on the perimeter.
In fact, Synergy statistics show that Prince defended one of the other team’s top scorers for almost 46% of his playing time during the previous season.ย In the best of circumstances, Prince will be utilized in that capacity significantly less frequently with the Bucks next season, though he might still need to do some of that in Milwaukee.
Prince, on the other hand, will probably be what fans are used to. Since former Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer helped Prince get his start in Atlanta, Prince became accustomed to making a lot of 3-pointers in his early career. Prince has tried 2,239 3-pointers over the last eight seasons and has made 37.6 percent of them. However, his career % is somewhat deceptive due to his subpar shooting (33.9 percent) in his one full season in Brooklyn (2019โ20).
Prince has scored at least 37.6% of the points in six of his past seven seasons. In his final season with the Lakers, he shot 39.6 percent from three points, including a career-high 43 percent on above-the-break attempts. He also scored 40 percent from outside the arc in 2020โ21.
Playing off the ball next to Damian Lillard and Antetokounmpo will require Prince to make a lot of 3-pointers, but he has also demonstrated the ability to attack closeouts when defenses force him off the 3-point line.
Though he can be a little overly eager at times when it comes to finishing, his ability to finish at a rate commensurate with an athletic 6-foot-6 forward with long arms has been restricted (64.4 percent in the last three seasons). Prince hasn’t had much success at the rim despite attacking closeouts, but he has developed into a potent midrange shooter over the past three years, connecting on 45.4% of his midrange attempts. (Shooting statistics from the glass cleaning.)
Prince doesn’t necessarily provide an answer to the question of who the Bucks will start at shooting guard, but the team went into free agency this year searching for players who could play meaningful minutes and support Rivers. Prince is one of those people, given that he played 2,108 minutes and made 78 appearances for a playoff team in the previous season.
Although there is still one available roster place for the Bucks, Horst’s first two summertime free-agent additions suit the team’s needs for the next campaign quite nicely. It’s acceptable if Wright and Prince don’t wind up scoring as much as Malik Beasley, the starting shooting guard from the previous season. The Bucks didn’t need to use their open roster spots on offense.
Beasley was added to Milwaukee last summer in order to provide some offensive firepower to lockdown defender Julius Holiday in the backcourt. Three days before the start of training camp, the Bucks acquired Lillard, which drastically altered the role players’ surroundings. Additionally, even though Beasley had one of his best seasons ever, the Bucks didn’t really need it.
With Lillard in the lineup, the Bucks required more defensive work and less assistance from the bench players in terms of offense.ย And in the first three days of free agency, the Bucks appear to have discovered that.
Wright’s length and agility allow him to exert more pressure on point guards and pursue shooting guards around the court, while Prince’s strength and length enable him to offer more resistance to wings and forwards. Players with minimum contracts may only be expected to do so much, but the Bucks were able to recruit two players who were rotation players for playoff teams at the end of the previous season and fit in much better with the team’s starting lineup.
It’s possible that the Bucks won’t be an improved club come playoff time. Although it is difficult to foresee any team’s injuries, obstacles, and misfortune in a particular season, their squad appears to make much more sense on paper following the signings of these first two players.