Late into the opening night of free agency, the Milwaukee Bucks have re-signed Taurean Prince on a two-year, $7.1m contract. There is a player option in the second season.
Our Van Fayaz noted that a two-year, $7.1m contract for Prince is likely a minimum deal, signed with that exception or non-Bird Rights, not the MLE or BAE. Prince’s salary as a nine-year veteran is $3.3m, of which the Bucks only need to pay $2.3m. His salary next year would be $3.6m; the numbers match up with it being a two-year minimum contract.
Prince had a nice year from a shooting standpoint last season, at least, hitting 43.9% of his threes on 4.2 attempts per game. However, his impact was somewhat muted by defensive lapses and his tendency to try to do too much off the dribble. Of course, he ended the season playing just four minutes in Game 5 against Indiana; the team looked better with him off the floor in the playoffs, frankly.
Alas, I suppose it can’t hurt _too much_ to get a shooter like Prince in for another year or two. On a more interesting note, though, TP and Gary Trent Jr. (currently still a free agent) are both represented by Klutch Sports Group’s Rich Paul. Brew Hoop founder Frank Madden noted that Paul likely needs to ensure a Prince deal doesn’t eat into MLE money for Trent. Thus, if offering a player option to Prince seems generous, the upside is that it could be a sign that a Trent deal will happen as well.