“I wouldn’t step on that court if I didn’t feel like I could help my team win games,” LeBron James had then acknowledged publicly that his teammate “needs to take his time.” However, by making the above remark to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, Gabe Vincent was quite adamant upon his need to be present on the court during the final Lakers games of the 2024 season. This act of selflessness by ignoring his injury, only proved harmful, as his single-digit performances highlighted only a steep drop. Having spent considerable time in recovery during the off-season, the hooper is now more confident to talk about what went wrong a couple of months ago…

The Lakers are set to play their first pre-season game in the next few hours. Interacting with the press before the highly anticipated game, Gabe Vincent revealed that the knee injury he sustained back in December 2023 didn’t fully heal until one month into the off-season. After reportedly missing out on 46 games, the player felt that he was “healthy enough to come back and compete” during the playoffs. Now, he himself acknowledges that to be the wrong decision.

“I think it was clear to everybody I wasn’t really myself, even though I was able to impact in certain ways, at times,” the 28-year-old said. “Just wasn’t really what I was proud of producing and now, because of this ball club needed me at times to produce up.” Despite everything that occurred, he assured the fans, confirming, “Definitely happy, will be healthy coming into the next season.”

In the five games that he played at the beginning, Gabe averaged 5.4 points, 1 rebound, and 3 assists. After the December game against the Bulls, the player didn’t return to the court again until the March 31 game against the Nets.

Out of the six regular season games he took part in, he scored 0 in four of them, despite getting ample playing time. While he did drop 9 points during the Play-in tournament game against the Pelicans, he only averaged 1.4 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 0.6 assists against the Nuggets.

While the Denver side was as tough of a competitor as the LeBron James-led franchise could have faced, the team may have been in a better position if Gabe Vincent had been excused during the post-season.

Despite appearing in only 11 games in his debut season with the Lakers, the franchise management decided to give the player another chance. Or rather, they were forced to. As Jovan Buha highlighted, “People kind of view Gabe (Vincent) as dead money moving forward”, meaning that the Lakers may not have been able to get a good trade offer to be utilized. Therefore, the team now looks to make the best use of what they have got, with the new head coach hyping up the hooper for everyone else.

JJ Redick aims to utilize Gabe Vincent’s aggression in upcoming games: “Man I wish I had 10 Gabe Vincents”

Having not coached before, the 2024-25 season will be a big test for JJ Redick. As a result, the new Lakers boss has spent the last couple of months laying out his strategy and focusing on player development. This has also involved him keeping a close eye on Gabe Vincent’s condition. After the team’s training camp on Thursday, Redick revealed that he’s not going to ask the player to do anything that once again puts him in harm’s way. However, if he’s in a condition to give his 100%, then the coach knows what he wants out of the 28-year-old.

“One of the things I just talked about with him (Vincent) is just having a really aggressive mentality. He is, and I knew this prior to him being back in the gym, I knew that he was super professional, Rob talked about that when I got the job,” JJ Redick said. “We have a lot of these guys, I feel very fortunate, but he’s like one of those guys where you’re like ‘Man, I wish I had 10 Gabe Vincents.’”

It was Redick’s belief that the player is easy to coach and is someone from whom he can get some day-to-day consistency. Therefore, what he asks from Gabe Vincent is to not turn down shots, shoot a 3 when coming off an action, and create a level of freedom and clear-mindedness that helps him excel. Who knows, by the time the 2024-25 season closes, the point guard would have thrown his ‘dead money’ reputation quite far away.

Thoughts?

Before you go, remember to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr.