Late last May, long after the Lakers season had been put into the books after a first-round drubbing at the hands of the Nuggets, forward Taurean Prince reflected on the previous season and expressed a desire to return to the team when he hit free agency this summer.
Speaking on the Lakers Nation podcast, Prince said, “My family, the quality of life in Los Angeles is something that myself and my family haven’t had in probably three or four seasons. So to stay here would be definitely number one.
“If not that, then I mean, wherever the dominoes fall and wherever it’s best, that’s where I’ll be. But I for sure want to be a Laker, 100%.”
The dominoes have fallen elsewhere, it seems, as the Lakers’ crowded roster and overwrought payroll left the team without the option to bring him back—not that many fans were clamoring for his return, anyway. Instead, Prince signed on with the Bucks for a one-year deal, likely at the league minimum.
Taurean Prince Shot 39.6% From 3-Point Line in 2023-24
Prince’s time in L.A. will go down as somewhat bizarre. To start last season, he was a favorite of coach Darvin Ham, who started him for 49 games out of the 78 in which he played. But 47 of those starts came on or before February 1—by midway through the season, pressure on Ham to make a lineup change got to be great enough to force him to move Prince to the bench.
Still, Prince is a talented and active defender, an excellent 3-and-D option for a team that needed both. He averaged 8.9 points and 2.9 rebounds. More important, Prince shot 39.6% on 3-point tries and his 1.8 3-pointers made per game ranked No. 4 on the Lakers stat sheet.
It will come as no surprise to many that Prince is off to Milwaukee, where he will join Ham, who was hired as an assistant for Doc Rivers after the Lakers fired him. Ham’s affinity for Prince and willingness to keep him in the starting 5 was a source of great frustration for Lakers fans, and for some in the Lakers locker room, as well.
Prince, who turned 30 in March, is clearly entering the journeyman phase of his career. After spending his first three seasons with the Hawks, Prince spent a year-and-a-half in Brooklyn, a year in Cleveland, two years with the Wolves and a year with the Lakers before now signing up with the Bucks.
Lakers Free Agency Has Been Fruitless
Meanwhile, the Lakers continue to press forward in NBA free agency, with a roster stuffed with 15 active contracts after keeping star LeBron James on a two-year max deal and signing draft picks Dalton Knecht and Bronny James to deals.
The only other significant decision the Lakers made was to give Max Christie a four-year, $32 million new contract. Christie, we were told last year, would be a prominent part of the Lakers’ rotation, but saw his playing time slashed from 17.2 minutes per game in the first half to 8.5 after the All-Star break.
There remain some hopes that the Lakers can pull off a significant trade, or that they can wiggle out of some salary with a low-level trade and create space to pursue DeMar DeRozan. Both are still on the table, but might well be longshots at this point.
A lot of dominoes have fallen, but not many have fallen the Lakers’ way yet.
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