By now, Taurean Prince knows that he’s a free agent. But any random NBA fan might have known this well before him.
On Wednesday evening, NBA fans found out that Minnesota is not guaranteeing Prince’s contract for the upcoming season, meaning the veteran forward is heading for free agency.
Basketball fans learned this news the same way they learn a lot of things NBA related, from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter.
The Timberwolves are declining to guarantee Taurean Prince’s $7.4M contract for the 2023-2024 season, sources tell ESPN. Prince — who’s averaged 10.4 points in his seven years — joins the free agent market.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 28, 2023
And if this just was how fans found out, it wouldn’t be a big issue. Heck, if this was how NBA players, including even Prince’s teammates in Minnesota, found out about the news, there wouldn’t be much to it. But Prince himself? That has to be something the team tells him directly. Or, at the very least, it has to be something that the team tells Prince’s agent, who would then relay the news to Prince. But that’s not what happened.
Prince found out about the Timberwolves’ decision from Woj on Twitter, like everyone else.
Sheesh, appreciate the heads up Woj🤲🏾 https://t.co/KXwlYfMyLA
— TP (@taureanprince) June 28, 2023
For the sake of this argument, it doesn’t matter if you agree with Minnesota’s decision, are completely against or are somewhere in between.
Basketball fans were miffed that the Timberwolves didn’t communicate this news to Prince before Woj could share it with everyone else.
What a way to find out. https://t.co/G6kmYrf6Ei
— The Daily Wolves (@TheDailyWolves) June 28, 2023
This does not reflect well on Tim Connelly and the TWolves.
Same thing happened to DWill back in the day, which was not good business either. https://t.co/gbWfAvP7En
— David J. Smith (@davidjsmith1232) June 28, 2023
NBA is a weird world
What other profession do you find out you’re fired through social media
Feel bad for him https://t.co/cfZ0OTJsYG
— 𝐉𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐌𝐜𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐆𝐎𝐀𝐓 (@JmacG0AT) June 28, 2023
Wow finding out from Woj instead of your team is crazy lol https://t.co/1iQw2PY8fg
— Ari 😛 (@arielariel_ari) June 28, 2023
https://twitter.com/_ImClutch/status/1674175037459292164
As bad as Prince finding out about Minnesota’s decision on Twitter is, it’s actually even worse.
If you notice the timestamp on Wojnarowski’s original tweet, you’ll note that it went up at 4:55 p.m. ET. You also might notice that it’s edited from an original tweet, which went up at 4:52 p.m. ET. Prince, meanwhile, tweeted his reaction at 5:10 p.m. ET.
If Prince was responding to Woj’s tweet a minute or two after it was sent out, this would be more understandable. Sure, Prince should know what’s happening before Woj but with that scenario, we can imagine Woj tweeting it out fast and Prince reading it just a few seconds before someone with the team had a chance to tell him.
But in 15 — or even 18 — minutes, someone with the Timberwolves could have easily communicated this to Prince. That it didn’t happen is baffling.
[Adrian Wojnarowski, Taurean Prince]
