I think he will play, and the pistons will use prince/rip as tradebait.
Those two guys have been tradebait for twelve months. Even if they managed to unload one of them (likely Prince), there aren't going to be a lot of opportunities to be had in Detroit.
Gotta figure that T-Mac didn't have a lot of options. I mean, why sign in Detroit?
1. It ain't the money; playing for the vet min
2. It ain't the glory; Detroit would need to get very lucky to get into the playoffs, they're miles away from contention
3. It ain't the playing time; competing with Gordon, Prince, Rip, Stuckey, Bynum, and all the other guys for court time.
4. It's freakin' Detroit. Remember the last line in the "Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video?" "
WE'RE NOT DETROIT!"
What does all of this tell me? Twenty-nine other teams took a gander at T-Mac and decided to take a pass.