Lakers News: Darvin Ham Discusses Taurean Prince Coming Off Bench Against New York

Has Ham finally learned from this experience?

One of the biggest talking points around the Los Angeles Lakers season this year has been the playing time for forward Taurean Prince. Prince joined the Lakers on a one-year deal in free agency but has played an insane amount of minutes this season.

It's become a problem for the Lakers and has been perpetuated by head coach Darvin Ham. Prince is a good player who deserves to be on the floor. But he has been playing far too many minutes for what he actually does.

In the team's win over the New York Knicks over the weekend, Ham finally decided to move Prince to the bench. The Lakers ended up winning the game, and it was possibly a sign of hope that Ham may keep this going.

The Lakers head coach spoke about Prince moving to the bench after the game.

“Just coming out being bigger along the frontline,” Ham said. “Taurean, he has to do it on both sides of the ball. I just felt like him coming off the bench just would allow him to not only shore up our bench in terms of a defensive presence but also allow him to get some buckets, too. We need him to score and be aggressive offensively. And so he was able to do that."

Per Darvin Ham via The Athletic

With forward Jarred Vanderbilt now out for an extended period of time, Ham may keep Prince off the bench. Using Rui Hachimura gives the Lakers more size and more offensive production in the starting lineup as well.

In 48 games this season, Prince is averaging 9.7 points and 2.9 rebounds. He has averaged 30.5 minutes per game, which is far too many for this team.

The hope is that Ham keeps Prince off the bench and lets others get more playing time to balance the roster out.