The Los Angeles Lakers added depth along the wings with their addition of Taurean Prince from the Minnesota Timberwolves. The deal was reportedly for the Bi-Annual Exception of one-year, $4.5 million, bringing another strong backup option behind LeBron James.
Prince was one of the first reported signings by the Lakers after the free agent moratorium opened up. And it appears the reason for that is a high level of mutual respect between him and the Lakers. He made that clear in his first public comments as a member of the team.
Prince spoke about the feeling he got as he entered the Lakers facilities for the first time and the type of motivation he is going to get from being around a franchise with so many accolades, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“You walk in here and you feel the aura. It feels like high standards, you can feel that when you walk in the building. And that’s what you really want as a player, that’s what I’ve missed as a player and I’m glad to be able to be in an environment like that because it’s only going to raise the level of play.”
Despite a down period where the Lakers struggled to land free agents, it still appears as though players are drawn to the Lakers aura and the championship expectation that comes with each season. Prince is certainly ready for the task and can feel that championship aura from Day 1.
Prince embodies the type of player the Lakers were targeting in free agency as well. A hard worker who fights every play and fits well with Darvin Ham’s offensive and defensive system. The early returns reveal a mutually beneficial relationship for Prince and L.A.
Rob Pelinka successfully executes plan
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka revealed that he and his team had a “pre-agency” plan that stemmed all the way back to the trade deadline in February. His plan has gone exactly how he had hoped with the additions and retentions this offseason.
“At the trade deadline we talked a little bit about pre-agency. When we made the trades and planned it for this July, you don’t know exactly at that time how everything is going to go. But obviously the trade led to a Western Conference Finals run and then we started to execute a plan around continuity and keeping our core pieces together. Adding things around the edges that will make us even better, and we’re really fulfilled that our plan was executed and we were able to keep the continuity of our guys and add some key new players as well.”
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