Los Angeles Lakers reserve point guard Gabe Vincent was one of my picks to number among the sneaky-best free agent signings this past offseason, not just by Lakers team president Rob Pelinka, but by any front office.
It turns out I was dead wrong.
That’s not necessarily any fault of Vincent’s, more just an issue of rotten luck. Coming off an impressive run through the NBA Finals as the upstart Miami Heat’s starting point guard, Vincent emerged as an intriguing 3-and-D fit for the Lakers, inked to a lower number than departing reserve lead guard Dennis Schröder.
He’s played just five games for the 34-29 Lakers thus far this season, having been waylaid much of the year by a left knee effusion that eventually required surgery. His puny averages of 5.4 points on .375/.118/.500, three assists and one rebound haven’t exactly set the world on fire. Though he was expected to return last month, that comeback has been delayed somewhat indefinitely. With Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt, the team’s two best perimeter defenders, still sidelined, the Lakers have slipped drastically on that end of the court across the past two months.
The Lakers may not have indicated when exactly their $33 million signing will return publicly, but a very plugged-in expert may have just let it slip.
During a new conversation on FanDuel TV’s Run It Back, Shams Charania of The Athletic provided an actual timeline for Vincent’s return from the surgery:
“Gabe Vincent is doing more and more on the court. The Lakers will know more I think next week, where Gabe Vincent stands. But barring any setbacks, his hope is still mid-to-late March to get back in the lineup for the Lakers,” Charania said. “They can still use another guard in the backcourt, but I will say, last night [in a blowout win against the Oklahoma City Thunder], Spencer Dinwiddie came in there. It’s clear the starting rotation, the starting lineup, there’s a lot of usage that’s going around right now, D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, LeBron James, obviously the ball is in their hands. Spencer Dinwiddie came in last night and defensively stepped up, had that block on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, had the layup in transition, had a few assists as well in that limited role.”
“I think off the bench what you’re seeing is players starting to figure out their role. Taurean Prince is now coming off the bench and playing around 15-20 minutes, spotting up and making threes. Spencer Dinwiddie is really serving as a 3-and-D guard off that bench. And then Gabe Vincent you want to kind of change the tempo, change the pace. That’s why they signed him from Miami so the hope is barring any setbacks, a return at some point here over the next few weeks.”
