There’s a surprise inclusion on the Bucks’ initial injury report ahead of tomorrow night’s matchup with the Suns: forward Taurean Prince is questionable to play. Prince has missed the last four months after appearing in Milwaukee’s first eight contests off the bench. That’s 55 games in total.
You’ll recall that TP, a major fixture of last year’s starting lineup, underwent neck surgery on November 13th. He’s seen zero action since their loss to Toronto on November 4th, after which he was listed as out
with a neck strain. From what it sounded like in Doc Rivers press conferences, they thought it was serious, and sure enough, it turned out to be a herniated disc. A few weeks post-operation, the soon-to-be 32-year-old vowed that he’d play again.
In December, the Bucks reportedly applied for a disabled player exception in light of Prince’s surgery, indicating they believed he could be done for the season. For the exception to be granted, an NBA-designated physician must determine that the player is “substantially more likely than not” to be out through at least June 15th of any league year. Now, most of these exceptions—if approved—are never used because they do not grant teams an additional standard roster spot. They only allow teams to sign a replacement player for the lesser of 50% of the injured player’s salary or the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception. The latter is $14.1m, and given Prince’s $3.6m salary, Milwaukee’s exception would have been worth only $1.8m, only about $600k more than the rookie minimum salary.
Since they applied, there’s been no word on whether their request was approved or denied, but we can close the book on it now. Perhaps a physician determined that Prince could play again this season, which may prove correct very soon. TP’s done on-court work at practices and before games for a while now, though there had been no rehab assignment to the G League or any indication he was getting close. For a Bucks team that isn’t as starved for wing depth as they were to begin the year, he’s still a welcome body who maybe defends a little, but definitely shoots. On 4.2 attempts per game, he shot 43.9% from three last year, good for third-best leaguewide.
Prince is in the first year of a two-year, veteran’s minimum contract, with a $3.8m player option for 2026–27. He’ll certainly face a minute restriction, and the Bucks’ 19 remaining games may not give him much chance to reestablish enough value for a trip to the open market, so he may opt in once that decision is due in late June. On the other hand, his projected minimum salary for next year is $3.9m—an $85k raise—and all 30 teams can pay him that money with the minimum salary exception. Despite the long injury layoff, he still seems likely to find a minimum deal somewhere if he chooses to leave, given the recent shooting prowess.
Regardless, congrats to Prince for completing his rehab and seeing an NBA floor again before the season is out. Neck injuries, especially when a disk is involved, have curtailed many careers—just ask Marques Johnson. I doubt TP displaces Ousmane Dieng or Kyle Kuzma from the starting lineup or rotation, but Milwaukee will at least now have the size to avoid playing guards like AJ Green out of position as often.
