Taurean Prince has been a bit of an unknown for those who follow the Minnesota Timberwolves closely. Last offseason, the Wolves traded Ricky Rubio to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Prince, a second-round pick and $2.5 million.
While Rubio remains a fan favorite, his $17.8 million cap hit was a steep price for a team that used him primarily as a backup point guard and de facto assistant coach. However, the early reaction to the Prince trade still had most people asking themselves, who? what? and sometimes why?
There was some speculation that the trade was made, in part, for the team to free up cap space. Prince is making $13 million this year, and the trade itself saved the Wolves almost $5 million. Sachin Gupta used that extra wiggle room to take on a small amount of salary in the trade for Patrick Beverley and still sit just barely below a luxury tax penalty. Therefore, that speculation seems partially true.
However, there was also optimism that Prince could fit in as a great role-player for the Wolves. Prince has historically shot well from three-point range, including two seasons where he shot over 40% on nearly four attempts per game. Unfortunately, Prince had a slow start to the year, shooting only 15.4% from the three-point line in October and 28.9% in November. However, Prince has been heating up in the last 10 games. He’s shot 50% from three-point range and 64.7% from the field overall.
In addition to Prince’s shooting numbers going up, he has begun to demonstrate his strong defensive presence and ability to grab important rebounds. Against the Utah Jazz on Sunday, Prince grabbed seven rebounds off the bench in only 24 minutes of playing time. Prince used almost all of those rebounds as an opportunity to push the ball up the court quickly, and one of those pushes allowed him to drain a wide-open three. Prince also stripped the ball from Jordan Clarkson twice while Clarkson was driving to the basket. One of those steals led to a fast break and an easy assist to Jaden McDaniels.
Prince has put up 10 points or more in three of his last five games, including a stellar performance against the Brooklyn Nets on Jan. 23rd. Prince scored 15 points against his former team on 6-of-6 shooting from the field in just under 20 minutes of playing time.
The Wolves won’t always need Prince to be perfect off the bench, of course. However, if he can get closer to the consistency he performed with in past seasons, it would significantly raise Minnesota’s ceiling as a team. Their bench scoring has been unreliable throughout the season. The Wolves currently rank 20th in the NBA in bench points per game at 34.2. They are tied for 25th in the NBA in shooting percentage at 41.4%.
Prince is only averaging 5.1 points a game this season, despite having averaged over 10 points a game in 4 of his last 7 seasons. While Prince was getting far more minutes in those seasons, his history in the league shows that he knows how to score when given the opportunity. If he could boost his average up by 2 to 3 points by the end of the season through the recent shooting efficiency we’ve seen, he could become an even more valuable role player off the bench.
So what does the future look like for Prince?
The NBA’s trade deadline is Feb. 10, and the Wolves could include Prince in some sort of deal. However, Gupta recently said that he believes “we can be patient [at the trade deadline] and just let this team continue to grow.” Thus, it seems there’s a strong probability that Prince remains in Minnesota for the rest of the year.
Prince’s contract expires at the end of this season, and he will become an unprotected free agent, so he will have the option to sign with any team that wants to make him an offer. If Prince keeps playing better throughout the rest of the season, the Wolves can’t let him get away. Prince, 27, is in the prime of his career, so he may want to search for a team that can offer him more consistent minutes.
However, he may have to move to a less competitive team to do that. The Wolves are on the rise, and Prince already has good chemistry with his teammates and coaching staff, so there is a good incentive for him to stick around. Regardless, if Prince decides to stay in Minnesota, he will continue to be a great veteran presence in the locker room heading into the future.