Former Laker Taurean Prince's $1,000,000 bonus makes him first NBA Cup millionaire
There is only one player who remains undefeated across two years of the NBA’s in-season tournament, now called the NBA Cup: Taurean Prince. The sharpshooting forward secured the title last year with the LA Lakers and this year with the Milwaukee Bucks.
As part of the Lakers’ roster last season, Prince earned $500,000 for winning the tournament, which was then referred to as the NBA In-Season Tournament.
In this year’s NBA Cup, each player from the winning team received $514,971.
With victories in both championships, Prince has now amassed a total of $1,014,971 in earnings from the NBA Cup.
In the 2023 championship game, where the Lakers defeated the Indiana Pacers, Prince contributed six points and three rebounds in 19 minutes. This year, he matched that with six points in nearly 21 minutes, helping the Bucks dominate the OKC Thunder 97-81 to secure the NBA Cup title.
Taurean Prince joined the Bucks in the offseason on a one-year deal worth $2,988,550. Remarkably, his NBA Cup winnings account for a third of his current contract.
Over his eight-year NBA career, Prince has earned $51,220,967 in contracts, according to Spotrac.
He holds the unique distinction of being undefeated in NBA Cup play, a feat he shares with his former Lakers coach Darvin Ham, who is now an assistant coach for the Bucks.
Taurean Prince highlights importance of NBA Cup prize money
Taurean Prince, arguably the most accomplished player in the brief history of the NBA Cup, emphasized the tournament's potential to provide life-changing earnings for players with smaller contracts.
"You go down the line of the bench and obviously contracts start to get lower and you definitely want to play for the guys next to you," Prince said (per SI). "And this is real money that could buy these guys' families their first house or their mom their first house or their car that they wanted. So it's big. It's bigger than just us."
"It's a lot of opportunity that we can take advantage of, not only for ourselves individually but for our teammates," Prince said. "So we all (have) got that in mind. Everybody knows what’s at stake and what can be done with this type of money for certain people, so we're just trying to take advantage of the moment.”
Prince remains a valuable contributor in his eighth NBA season, posting averages of 7.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists as a starter for the Bucks.