3. Taurean Prince — $4.516 million
The Los Angeles Lakers were able to sign a legitimate rotation guy for the Bi-Annual Exception this offseason. Typically, that is reserved for older veterans with very little in the gas tank or an unproven young player with untapped potential. Instead, the Lakers signed Taurean Prince.
Prince was not even supposed to be on the market, either. Needing to dip under the luxury tax, the Minnesota Timberwolves cut Prince loose this offseason and it looked like he was going to get a deal that was in a similar ballpark as his one in Minnesota.
Instead, the Lakers signed Prince for around half the cost that it was expected he would go for and will pay him just over $4.5 million this upcoming season. Any time a team can get a legitimate playoff guy for less than $5 million it is a huge win.
Damian Lillard helped the Lakers sign Taurean Prince.
Surprisingly enough, it did not seem like there were many suitors for Taurean Prince even though he is exactly what a contender should want on paper. One potential suitor was the Miami Heat, who may have been able to lure Prince away from the Lakers if they were not waiting on a potential Damian Lillard trade.
This allowed the Lakers to make an excellent bargain signing that is going to add a respectable amount of depth to the rotation both in the regular season and the NBA Playoffs.