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The Los Angeles Lakers set out to upgrade their roster this offseason but might have ended up overpaying for an “overrated” player” in point guard Gabe Vincent.
They signed him to a three-year, $33 million contract coming off a dynamite postseason run.
“Vincent for the full mid-level exception is probably a fine bit of business,” wrote Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report on August 2. “But he isn’t likely to start in L.A. And his career numbers suggest that postseason run may be an outlier.”
Vincent, 27, ranked fourth on Bailey’s five-man list of the “most overrated” players in the NBA since 2018. Vincent averaged 12.7 points, 3.5 assists, 1.4 rebounds, and nearly 1.0 steals per game while shooting 37.8% from beyond the arc for the Miami Heat during this past postseason. A former undrafted free agent, he only really caught on over the last two seasons.
He’s logged 68 appearances in back-to-back years after just 59 total over his first two years in the NBA.
“Resilient…we got 3 more to get.”
Gabe Vincent was exceptional in the Game 2 win with 23 PTS on 8-12 FG!
DEN/MIA Game 3:
Wednesday, 8:30 PM ET on ABC
But, as Bailey notes, there is some cause for concern that parts of Vincent’s game are not as reliable as they seemed over that 22-game stretch.
Vincent averaged a career-high 9.4 points during the regular season and shot 33.6% from deep adding 2.5 assists and a career-high 2.1 rebounds per game for good measure. And, in the 2021-22 postseason, he averaged 8.0 points and shot 30.9% from three in 18 games.
The good news is that he shot 36.8% from outside during the 2021-22 regular season.
Gabe Vincent’s Ascent Began With 2021 Olympics
Older players than him have turned themselves into reliable three-point shooters a la former Lakers big man Brook Lopez, now of the Milwaukee Bucks. And his contract is projected to account for less than 8% of the salary cap for its duration and does not even crack the top 100 list in terms of annual value, per Spotrac.
But Bailey isn’t just not buying the numbers, he’s also selling banking on a smaller guard in the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Vincent.
Not everyone needs convincing that Vincent is the real deal despite his limited track record, however. His former teammate on the Heat, Bam Adebayo, shared the moment he knew that Vincent was a “special” player.
“Man, when he torched us in the Olympics in the exhibition game against Nigeria,” Adebayo said via the NBA on June 4. “He came out with that type of energy, that type of ferocity, and that anger. I feel like from there, I was like, ‘He’s one of us.’”
It also sounds as though the Lakers are convinced Vincent can not only sustain his level of play but also be a definitive upgrade over their in-house options.
Lakers Possibly Ready to Green Light Gabe Vincent
There was a report from Jovan Buha of The Athletic on July 1 that said D’Angelo Russell was the “early favorite” to be the Lakers’ starting point guard next season. Not even two weeks later, Buha adjusted that.
“Given the Lakers’ second-half success with Russell in the starting lineup last season and his superior offensive skill, he makes the most sense as the starter,” Buha wrote on July 13. “With all that said, this is an open competition and Vincent has a legitimate chance to steal the starting job.”
They know you now, Gabe 👏
The Lakers went 12-5 with Russell after re-acquiring him at the trade deadline.
He re-signed this offseason on a two-year, $36 million contract with an $18.7 million player option for the 2024-25 campaign.
Russell – who has started 435 games in his career including 125 across both stints with the Lakers to Vincent’s 68 starts – certainly has the edge in terms of experience. It might take an overwhelming performance in training camp for Vincent to crack the starting lineup.
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Lakers’ $33 Million Signing Lands on Analyst’s List of ‘Overrated’ Players