Ever since arriving with the Los Angeles Lakers in July of 2023, it hasn’t ever really felt like Gabe Vincent properly lived up to his relatively high expectations. However, that’s all changed this season, as he’s begun to really put things together and look comfortable on the hardwood.
When Vincent arrived in Southern California in the summer of 2023, he was coming off an NBA Finals appearance with the Miami Heat the previous season. He had been one of the classical cases of a player the Heat had bought low on and then been able to get production out of that far outpaced both his expectations and what he was getting paid. Of course, that led plenty of Lakers fans to expect a lot.
So it was a bit of a disappointing development when Gabe ended up dealing with injury troubles to begin his time with the Lakers, and then not totally producing at the level that was expected once he did get on the hardwood. However, now, he’s making good on all his early expectations and finally performing at the level that the fan base had hoped for.
Vincent has embraced point of attack defensive assignments with confidence, and shown the type of aggressiveness that this team envisioned when they first signed him. For a team very much in need of more defense on the perimeter, Gabe’s intensity has given them that on-ball “glue guy” piece they were looking for.
Gabe Vincent is finally playing like the Lakers hoped
Vincent has also provided value in understanding his role offensively. He knows that he doesn’t need heavy usage to be effective, and that his job is ultimately to fit in with the stars around him. He’s someone who understands where to be, when to initiate actions, and how to keep the game under control when Luka Doncic or Austin Reaves are off the floor.
Gabe’s assist-to-turnover numbers have improved, his pacing has settled, and his comfort level within the Lakers’ structure is finally matching what the front office envisioned when they signed him in free agency. This is an underrated win for the front office for him to finally be panning out.
And in the end, Vincent is exactly the type of reliable secondary option that good teams need over the course of a long season. When Vincent is steady, the Lakers’ second unit is operating with more clarity, and the starters have one more guard they can trust in important stretches of games.
If he continues trending upward in this way, Vincent’s resurgence will quietly become one of the more impactful storylines of LA’s season, and a reminder of why the organization invested in him in the first place.
