One of the biggest moves that the Los Angeles Lakers made during the 2023 NBA offseason was signing point guard Gabe Vincent. Vincent had just come off an excellent run with the Miami Heat during the 2023 postseason, taking over as the team’s starting point guard and helping lead them to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Denver Nuggets.
Vincent was an integral part of that success, averaging 12.7 points with 3.5 assists in 30.5 minutes per game. He knocked down 37.8 percent of his 3-pointers, which was appealing to the Lakers.
The most successful LeBron James-led teams are when he is surrounded by 3-and-D contributors. Vincent would certainly fit that bill as Los Angeles signed him to a three-year, $33 million deal to get him away from South Beach.
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Gabe Vincent & Los Angeles Lakers Updates
Unfortunately for the Lakers and Vincent, things haven’t panned out as expected. He has appeared in only five games this season and struggled when he was on the court. Vincent was dealing with a knee injury, which kept him sidelined for the entire month of November and multiple weeks of December.
He made his return to the lineup after a 23-game absence on December 20th. It was a short-lived return, as Vincent has missed the subsequent three games and won’t be returning to the court any time soon.
That is because, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, Vincent has opted to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his balky left knee. He is expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks before he can return to game action.
This is a brutal blow for Vincent and the Lakers as he was expected to be a major part of their backcourt rotation. Without him, the team has turned to James to take on more of a ball-handling role while relying on D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves to handle a bulk of the point guard minutes.
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Gabe Vincent & Los Angeles Lakers Updates
The procedure that Vincent is undergoing is considered a clean-up. He attempted to avoid surgery by having his knee drained and platelet-rich therapy. But, after his one game last week against the Chicago Bulls, the knee swelled up again and led to the decision to undergo surgery.
The timetable provided likely keeps Vincent sidelined through the trade deadline. It will be interesting to see if that affects how the Lakers approach the deadline and if they seek out an addition for their backcourt.
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