Prince with the Detroit Pistons in 2008
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Free agent | |||||||||||||||||||
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Position | Small forward | ||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
Born |
Compton, California |
February 28, 1980 ||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | American | ||||||||||||||||||
Listed height | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | ||||||||||||||||||
Listed weight | 212 lb (96 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||||||||
High school | Dominguez (Compton, California) | ||||||||||||||||||
College | Kentucky (1998–2002) | ||||||||||||||||||
NBA draft | 2002 / Round: 1 / Pick: 23rd overall | ||||||||||||||||||
Selected by the Detroit Pistons | |||||||||||||||||||
Playing career | 2002–present | ||||||||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||||||||
2002–2013 | Detroit Pistons | ||||||||||||||||||
2013–2015 | Memphis Grizzlies | ||||||||||||||||||
2015 | Boston Celtics | ||||||||||||||||||
2015 | Detroit Pistons | ||||||||||||||||||
2015–2016 | Minnesota Timberwolves | ||||||||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||||
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Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |||||||||||||||||||
Medals
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Tayshaun Durell Prince (born February 28, 1980) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 6'9" small forward graduated from Dominguez High School before playing college basketball for the University of Kentucky. He was drafted 23rd overall by the Detroit Pistons in the 2002 NBA draft and went on to win a championship with the team in 2004.
Prince played four seasons (1998 to 2002) for the University of Kentucky Wildcats, averaging 13.2 points and 5.7 rebounds as the Wildcats posted a 97–39 record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament each year. Prince won SEC Player of the Year in his junior season (2000–2001) – also leading the SEC in free throw percentage (84.3%) – and was named to the Associated Press All-SEC Teams in both his junior and senior years. Kentucky won the SEC Tournament in 1999 and 2001, and Prince was awarded the 2001 tournament's Most Valuable Player award. He was a three-time team MVP with the Wildcats.
Notable individual performances included a 31-point, 11 rebound, four assist, four steal effort in a 79–59 victory over North Carolina. In scoring Kentucky's first fifteen points, Prince made five consecutive three-point shots. Kentucky shooting guard Keith Bogans compared Prince's performance to "the Chicago Bulls' Michael Jordan blistering Portland in the 1992 NBA Finals." In an 87–82 victory over Tulsa during the 2002 NCAA Tournament, Prince scored a career-high 41 points (along with nine rebounds, four assists and three blocks) to lead Kentucky to the Sweet 16. He graduated from Kentucky in 2002 with a degree in sociology.
In his rookie season under head coach Rick Carlisle, Prince was not a member of the team's playing rotation and appeared in just 42 of 82 regular-season games. However, in the first round of the 2003 NBA Playoffs, Detroit trailed the Orlando Magic three games to one, forcing Carlisle to experiment with a different rotation. Prince was inserted into the lineup and received heavy minutes. He then became the only player in NBA history to score more points in the playoffs than in the regular season (137 in the season, 141 in the playoffs).