Summary

Prince has not lived up to the reptuation he had coming out of Baylor in 2016. Many believed Prince would become an elite defender, and Prince is far from elite in that area. Despite having good length on defense, he doesn't play to his size, and is light enough to still get bullied by bigger wings.

 

On offense,  Prince has shown some flashes of being able to create for himself, but he does not have the skill level to be a go-to option. However, Prince shot 38% and 39% from three in the '17-'18 and '18-'19 seasons, respectively, and did so on enough attempts to believe that he is a solid outside shooter. Prince should get plenty of open looks playing next to Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Caris LeVert in Brooklyn. If he can improve his defense and continue to hit outside shots at a good rate, Prince will get interest in free agency.

 

Cap Considerations

Prince will be a restricted free agent with a $10.4 million cap hold and a likely $4.6 million Qualifying Offer (if Prince starts more than 41 games or plays more than 2,000 minutes, his Qualifying Offer will be $4.8 million). If the Nets do not have interest in bringing back Prince, they could refuse to tender him a QO, making him an unrestricted free agent. While I do not consider this a likely outcome, I think it is possible that he could fall out of the rotation this season. The Nets are unlikely to have cap space next summer, so keeping Prince's restricted rights has little opportunity cost, unless they are worried he will sign his Qualifying Offer early in free agency (which hardly ever happens), and they do not believe he is worth keeping at that price.

 

If the Nets are hesitant to re-sign Prince and they let him test the restricted free agent market, his free agency could take some time. Other teams will not want to tie up their cap space on an offer sheet for Prince if they think the Nets have a reasonable shot at matching, and teams may be unwilling to give Prince the level of salary that would force the Nets to let him go. I do not expect Prince's value to be more than the full $9.9 Mid-Level Exception, so teams over the cap could still target him if they are interested.