Approaching his 35th birthday next month and after 12 NBA seasons, Tayshaun Prince isn’t really the guy to have as part of a long-term rebuilding project.
However, as of Monday Prince is now part of the rebuilding Celtics, he was moved there in the three-team Jeff Green trade.
Which leads to the question, what do the Celtics do with him? Prince knows how the business works so he will report to Boston, reports A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com.
Tayshaun Prince will report to #Celtics following today's trade, says league sources.So no, there'll not be a repeat of Kirilenko to Philly.
— A. Sherrod Blakely (@ASherrodblakely) January 12, 2015
The question is now long he will stay. It is possible that Prince and Boston could part ways quickly, reports Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated.
A buyout possible, but not a foregone conclusion for Tayshaun Prince in BOS. Prince and Danny Ainge will discuss the situation, per source.
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) January 12, 2015
Basically, if Prince is willing to take enough of a discount in the buyout of his $7.2 million deal the Celtics will set him free.
Should that happen there will be suitors for Prince, although teams are not going to offer more than the league minimum. The Clippers quickly come to mind as a team looking for depth at the small forward spot.
Prince’s skills are certainly in decline but because of his length and IQ he’s still a decent defender. Offensively he was the guy teams helped off of against Memphis because he shot just 41 percent (although he shot a much improved 45.5 percent from three this season) and his bad habit of settling for the long two (31.1 percent of his shots this season were from 16 feet out to the arc). Still, he put up 7.3 points a game with a PER of 10.6, which some team might think is good enough for 15 minutes a night.
