The Los Angeles Lakers were quiet at the NBA trade deadline. LA considered trading forward Taurean Prince, but head coach Darvin Ham reportedly wanted Prince to remain with the team, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic.

“With limited interest in their players with multiple years left on their contracts, one option the Lakers weighed was trading Taurean Prince, who is making $4.5 million on an expiring contract. However, head coach Darvin Ham was one of the vocal supporters of retaining Prince, according to team sources,” Buha wrote in a recent article for The Athletic.

Taurean Prince's quiet, but impressive impact

Prince, 29, has played in the NBA since the 2016-17 season. 2023-24 is his first year with the Lakers, and he's quietly enjoyed a strong season.

As of this story's writing, Prince is averaging 9.7 points per game on 43.8 percent field goal and 38.9 percent three-point shooting. He is also recording 3.0 rebounds per contest.

Prince is playing more this season than in any other year. He's started 47 games out of his 50 contests played for LA, and is averaging a career-high 30.4 minutes per outing. Prince's playing time hints at Ham's opinion of him, so it is understandable that the Lakers head coach wanted LA not to trade him.

Lakers' post-deadline outlook

RECOMMENDED (Article Continues Below)
Lakers' LeBron James, Anthony Davis Rui Hachimura with Nuggets' Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray

Jack Winter ·

Draymond Green, Ryan Garcia, Lakers, Nuggets, LeBron James

Jackson Stone ·

Lakers, Darvin Ham, D'Angelo Russell, Nuggets, LeBron James

Jackson Stone ·

The Lakers, though, have a lot of uncertainty overall. Their lack of moves at the deadline makes it unclear what direction the franchise is headed in. They aren't rebuilding, but one would have imagined they would have made a trade or two if they were all in.

Then again, the Lakers had a busy offseason and built a talented roster. But LA is just 27-26 heading into Friday night's game against the New Orleans Pelicans. And with LeBron James' future with the team in question, there isn't much optimism surrounding the team at the moment.

If LA can get into the playoffs, then perhaps they will catch fire and make a deep run like last year. Anything can happen in the postseason. And role players like Taurean Prince will help LeBron James and Anthony Davis throughout the remainder of the 2023-24 campaign.