Requesting a Disabled Player Exception for Taurean Prince effectively signals the end of his season. As a result, the Milwaukee Bucks no longer have a small forward insurance policy to bank on down the road. Coming up with viable wing minutes has already been a challenge, and this turn of events doesn't help.
Bucks' small forward puzzle just lost another piece
Prince was not a starter for the Bucks this season. In the eight games he played, he was, though, a solid contributor off the bench. He picked up where he left off last season as one of the league's premier marksmen beyond the arc. He has the size and strength that Gary Trent Jr. and AJ Green do not have to guard bigger wings. Now, he's probably done for the season after undergoing neck surgery for a herniated disc.
Importantly, the DPE would only allow the Bucks to sign someone at half of Prince's salary. That comes out to around $1.65 million, hardly enough to net an impact player in his place.
With Prince out of the picture, Kyle Kuzma has proven to be the Bucks' closest thing to a legitimate small forward. And he has his flaws, chief among them clunky shooting and inconsistency. After Kuzma began the year on the bench, he has alternated between starting and reserve roles. Losing Giannis Antetokounmpo to a calf strain has cost the Bucks a forward spot and further limited available lineup permutations.
In his absence, Rivers has returned to three-guard lineups featuring Ryan Rollins, Kevin Porter Jr., and AJ Green or Gary Trent Jr. Now Green is hurt, too, but whether the Bucks start him or Trent at the three, they are painfully small.
If Prince had a real shot to return, the team could at worst continue puzzling together their limited, undersized pieces and plug him back into the rotation midseason. Having Prince available mitigates the problem to some small but appreciable extent. If he's not coming back, that's no longer even a fallback plan.
So, while the update doesn't impact the short term - the Bucks weren't expecting Prince back soon - it should influence Milwaukee's strategy for the season. Kuzma is what he is. Trent and Green aren't going to sprout several inches. For all practical purposes, Amir Coffey, who entered the year as a promising depth option, might as well not be on the roster. Now they know Prince won't be waiting in the wings to patch the leak even a little.
More than ever, addressing their small forward issues via trade looks like the only real answer if the front office wants to field a contender.