Tayshaun Prince won an NBA Championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004, but he wants another one. That's why he wasn't happy when he was traded from the Boston Celtics to the Pistons just before the trade deadine: Prince was seeking a buyout from the Celtics so he could sign with a championship contender. Instead, he'll remain in Detroit for the rest of the year. The Pistons have no plans to buy out Prince's contract.
Pistons leave Tayshaun Prince wondering, ‘What the hell happened?’
After the trade deadline didn’t pan out the way he hoped, Prince will play the remainder of the season with the Detroit Pistons.
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
In the wake of the trade to the Pistons, Prince was left wondering, as Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy told Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press, "What the hell happened?"
The Pistons traded Jonas Jerebko and Luigi Datome to acquire Prince. Now 34 and in the final year of his contract, Prince doesn't have that much time left in the league. He is averaging 7.6 points and 3.2 rebounds per game this season, playing for both the Memphis Grizzlies and Celtics. Now, Prince will play for the Pistons in the final season of the four-year, $27-million contract he signed with the Pistons in 2011.
Van Gundy was up front about his plans for Prince. He noted that if Prince was going to get bought out, it was going to be in Boston. Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press shared Van Gundy’s comments:
That’s not my decision,” Van Gundy said. “In other words the reason Boston made the trade was to save money. We’re paying Tayshaun more money. If he was going to get bought out, he should have done it in Boston. They should have let him be bought out. That’s not on me to buy him out. That was not part of the deal.
“We weren’t told of this until after we made the trade by Tayshaun’s agent and the whole thing.”
“Why would we trade guys who were making less money to take on more money to waive the guy?” Van Gundy said. “That would have been the dumbest personnel move ever. It’s not on us. I understand he didn’t get what he wanted.
“But the question you’re asking should be asked of (Celtics general manager) Danny Ainge. Not of us.”
Pistons blog Detroit Bad Boys noted the same thing: "A buyout makes zero sense from a financial perspective: Prince is making slightly more money this season ($7.7 million) than Jonas Jerebko ($4.5 million) and Luigi Datome ($1.75 million) combined. You don't trade for more money if your hope is to negotiate a buyout for less."
Now, the Pistons and Prince will have to coexist. While he might not be on a championship contender, he finds himself in the middle of the playoff hunt in the Eastern Conference, where the Pistons are one game out of the eighth and final spot.
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