Taurean Prince Out vs Philadelphia Tonight

Minus some minor scrapes, the Los Angeles Lakers seem to have largely been able to trot out their much-celebrated new (well, somewhat new) starting five of point guard D’Angelo Russell, shooting guard Austin Reaves, small forward LeBron James, power forward Rui Hachimura and center Anthony Davis at will heading into the home stretch of the season. As we’ve noted in the past on this site, the same cannot be said about their reserves, unfortunately. Point guard Gabe Vincent and forwards Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood have been out for a while, and though there have been murmurings that at least Vincent and Vanderbilt might be back, they are not yet, as of this writing.

Wood just went under the knife this week for an arthroscopic surgery on his pesky left knee. With just three weeks remaining this season, it seems likely he is out for the year. First round rookie draft pick Jalen Hood-Schifino, who is not part of the team’s rotation, just had a back surgery this week, too.

Now, it looks like Los Angeles will be missing another, fairly critical bench piece. But this time, at least, it may not be due to his own health. According to Trevor Lane of Front Office Sports, backup 3-and-D Lakers combo guard Taurean Prince has been ruled out for this evening’s festivities against a scrappy Philadelphia 76ers team due to “personal reasons.”

This is a bit of a blow for LA. Here’s hoping Darvin Ham will opt not to overtax his starters even amidst this growing injury report. Swingman Max Christie and small forward Cam Reddish seem in line to swallow up Prince’s minutes. A 6’6″ swingman out of Baylor, Prince is averaging nine points on .438/.387/.727 shooting splits (he’s connecting on 38.7% of his 4.8 triple tries a night), three rebounds, 1.6 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.5 blocks in just 28.2 minutes per.

The 30-year-old joined the Lakers on a one-year, $4.5 million sweetheart deal. He was long a preferred starter under Ham, but Hachimura, despite some positional overlap with James, has been the better fit thanks to his athleticism and willingness to score. Here’s hoping he is back sooner rather than later. The Lakers need healthy bodies.