Season Review: Gabe Vincent
Gabe Vincent’s first year with the Lakers left a lot to be desired as he spent most of the season nursing a left knee injury.
Welcome to our annual Lakers season in review series, where we’ll look back at each player on the team’s roster this season and evaluate if they should be part of the future of the franchise. Today, we take a look at Gabe Vincent.
Last summer, the Lakers took a chance on Gabe Vincent by offering him a multi-year contract. The 27-year-old, 6’1” guard was poached from the Miami Heat to contribute his experience and championship pedigree to the purple and gold as well as fill the void that Dennis Schröder left.
Vincent was expected to be one of the team’s best perimeter defenders, if not the outright best, and a reliable option they could count on amongst the Lakers’ guards.
Unfortunately, those expectations turned into a big missed opportunity as Vincent’s first year with the Lakers was deterred by a left knee effusion injury. The same injury caused him to miss 23 games to start the season until he returned for one game in December only for him to end up getting surgery, keeping him out for 46 more games.
By the time Vincent returned in March, the Lakers were already 75 games into the season and pretty much knew their fate. There was only so much the California native could do to be the difference-maker the team badly needed. Ultimately, Vincent didn’t get a fair chance to prove his worth and it significantly affected both his and the Lakers’ season.
How did he play?
In the 11 games Vincent suited up for during the regular season, he averaged 3.1 points and 1.9 assists in 19.8 minutes off the bench. It’s obviously unfair to judge him based on these numbers since he was constantly in and out of the lineup, but when he played, the four-year guard showed glimpses of his potential on the defensive end — which, again, the Lakers could’ve really used throughout the season but alas.
On offense, Vincent was utilized everywhere from ball handler to spot-up shooter to someone who could drive downhill. He attempted 48 field goals in 11 regular season games and converted 15 of those (30.6%).
Behind the 3-point line, Vincent shot it 28 times but only saw three (10.7%) of those attempts go in. His best games as a Laker happened in October before his injury, when he put up nine points on 4-7 shooting against the Orlando Magic.
Unfortunately, that ended up the only highlight of Vincent’s first season with the purple and gold. He spent most of the campaign waiting to come back to the point that Rob Pelinka had to acquire Spencer Dinwiddie via the buyout market during the trade deadline for insurance.
Then came the playoffs, when Vincent was finally healthy but still at a disadvantage since he wasn’t at the peak of his game and didn't have enough reps with the team. He took the assignment of guarding Jamal Murray and, at times, Kentavious Cardwell-Pope, but, as was the case in his regular season, he didn’t excel in his role enough to make a difference.
What is his contract situation moving forward?
Since Vincent inked a 3-year $33 million deal with the Lakers last summer. He’ll be entering the second year of his contract next season. So, in short, he won’t be a free agent until 2026.
Should he be back?
Whether Lakers fans like it or not, Vincent will remain with the purple and gold unless he gets traded. His first season in L.A. left a lot to be desired but at the very least, Vincent is considered as an asset which is important for flexibility purposes this offseason. After all, he’s far from being considered untouchable.
But If the former Heat guard begins the season with the Lakers, it’ll be nice to see him start the year healthy with a fair shot to make up for all the lost time this season and defeat the Kendrick Nunn 2.0 allegations.
You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani