Taurean Prince
Milwaukee Bucks

Player Facts

Height: 6'7"
Weight: 218lbs.

Wingspan: 6'11.5"

Date of Birth: Mar. 22, 1994
College Experience: Baylor (4 years)

Selections

All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 6
Physical Strength: 6
Positional Size: 6
Positional Wingspan: 7
Paint Scoring: 4
Midrange Scoring: 4
Three-Point Scoring: 8
Dribbling: 6
Passing: 4
Perimeter Defense: 7
Interior Defense: 4
Rebounding: 4

Embed from Getty Images

JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Spamming Spot-Ups

> Helping in Transition

> Some Direct Action

> Countering Closeouts

> Wing Defense

> Defensive Extras

> Offensive Limitations

> Low Stats Guy

> Defensive Soft Spots

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

*All short clips courtesy of ZH Highlights (YouTube),

*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

Hailing from San Marcos, Texas, the 6'7" wing is archetypically who can come to mind when conceptualizing the 3-and-D mould. Prince has had seasons where the "3" heavily outpaced the "D" in that equation, but he remains a solid, well-composed two-way wing through it all. He thrives playing beside high-gravity stars.

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Spamming Spot-Ups

Taurean is a great option for the receiving end of paint-to-great sequences. With his feet set, he is a knockdown shooter with a quick and high release. Prince has put together a strong multi-season sample size pointing to the fact that his floor is an above—league-average distance sniper.

Prince uses his basketball feel to shuffle along the three-point arc to create straighter passing angles for kick-outs. These sorts of lifts drifts, and re-locations can often land the Texan wing in the side pocket for those valuable catch-and-shoot corner threes. He brings volume to the table too, pouring in 58 corner threes in 2023-2024 (top 20 in the NBA).

That Laker season also saw him amass an impressive 306 spot-up points for the full year. That number was also what Karl-Anthony Towns produced, an elite shooter in his own right.

Taurean even mixes in some light movement shooting to top off his three-point value (he likes to use flare screens for open threes). This is helpful as a contingency plan after the first couple of offensive actions may have been killed. It is also a part of his game that can be dialled up in lower-firepower bench units.

Helping in Transition

Taurean is not necessarily the first one someone would envision when asked to think of a strong transition player. A good amount of his offensive value can come from here though. Charging up to the three-point line keeps defenders away from the paint – still that prime real estate on the fast break.

Prince can give you some pick-sixes, use his speed to catch pitch-aheads, or simply shoot those deep shots after fanning out to three. Skillful passers he has played with like LeBron James and Damian Lillard know that Prince is a sneaky-good option in man-advantage scenarios. 2023-2024 saw him help his running mates Austin Reaves and Anthony Davis in the open court (a shade under 40% for all zero-dribble 3's).

His next year as a Milwaukee Bucks saw similar fast break scoring success – backed up by the tracking data. What these numbers don't capture is all the latent extra value he provides through transition shooting gravity.

Some Direct Action

The Baylor product has, depending on his NBA pit stop, at times been empowered to be used in more primary action. 2024-2025 under Doc Rivers saw him be used a little here and there in ball screens and DHO's. He is used to seeing a lot of the same coverages here given his reputation as far more of a shooter than a slasher.

Within those coverages, he can make the quick dump-down to the slipping big, or take a couple of dribbles to drive-and-dish it over to someone else. Prince nabs some of his nightly three-point attempts by pulling the shot quickly in that window that handoffs often produce. If nothing else, he gets some uphill gravity into the action by being a solid shooter.

Countering Closeouts

Prince garners consistent closeouts as a clear shooter on scouting reports. His handle works enough for him to drive in a straight line toward the rim in response to lunging-out defenders. The former Bear is actually an underrated passer in these spots where his reads are a little more linear.

The swingman's first choice in his option tree here is still to score on this dribble drive. His 1.7 points per game on his 2023-2024 drives put him just ahead of names like Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Wiggins, and Tari Eason.

Wing Defense

The combo forward will guard many player types for you. He tends to be best on like-sized players though. Out of the guard, forward, and center buckets, he held those wings to the lowest FG%-against in 2024-2025.

He shuffles his feet and uses his length in man-defense situations. Sometimes he will surprise a smaller guard with his length and get a perimeter block on them. He can be used within a switching scheme quite nicely as well. Prince wins on defense with a length and anticipation style portfolio.

While surely not elite, Taurean does not stand out as a guy you will try to target. He won't be subject to relentlessly being brought into actions for exposure purposes. Rather, Prince is a solid defensive forward who will do his job for you.

Defensive Extras

Taurean came from a strong development program out of Baylor under coach Scott Drew. Defense is prioritized and is what helped Prince initially make a name for himself in the NBA. With defensive IQ embedded into him, Taurean does a lot of little things well on this end.

His rotations are smart and proactive, landing in a good spot on the risk-reward spectrum. He will also at least try to make many backside rotations and use his ~7-foot wingspan to be an obstacle. 2023-2024 saw opponents shoot 3.7% less than their average <6 feet from the hoop with him there.

WEAKNESSES

Offensive Limitations

He fits the 3-and-D build a little too well-meaning, Prince does not do much beyond that limited (and increasingly antiquated) job description. To start, Taurean does not possess much of a scoring bag. His creation is rare and not much to write home about.

The more impactful deficiency here is his below-average shooting percentages by zone. He is annually one of the lower-efficiency guys from all areas of the shooting map inside of three. When his clips are decent, it is usually indicative of being a low-volume spot for him.

Prince has had an unacceptable number of sub-60% years from 0-3 feet. His tough conversion rates from two-point range bring down that overall true shooting. Despite strong three-point percentages on volume, his true shooting tends to end up being around average.

Low Stats Guy

Putting up statistics is surely not everything when it comes to judging a player's on-court worth. There is something to be said about what they can capture though. For Taurean, he tends to be a low-output rebounder and assists-getter, with feeble defensive stats too. The paltry stocks numbers are particularly disappointing given his acumen and measurables.

Defensive Soft Spots

Taurean is not the best wing defender, hovering closer to serviceable than firmly "good" here. His impact can, somewhat fairly, be tethered strongly to his team environment. He can look good in certain environments while looking overtasked in mediocre-to-worse ones. Prince is not one to lift up a defensive unit himself.

A low deflection and steals rate, poor rim protection, and quite bad def-rebounding numbers stick out most here. He is also a little on the skinnier side so he can't be trusted to guard just any and every opposing wing. Prince does have a good defensive motor but his pitfalls can still show through a lot of the time.

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Beacon Bacon

Taurean is well-known for, back at Baylor, his response to why Yale out-rebounded them