When the Los Angeles Lakers signed Gabe Vincent in 2023, many heralded it as an opportunity to take a significant step forward. Los Angeles was coming off of a trip to the Western Conference Finals, while Vincent had broken out as the Miami Heat reached the NBA Finals.
Unfortunately, injuries and the long road to recovery have come to define the first half of Vincent's three-year contract in Los Angeles.
Vincent appeared in just 11 games in 2023-24, due in large part to the need for arthroscopic knee surgery. He struggled once he returned to the court and has continued to experience the agony of inconsistency early in 2024-25.
Thankfully, a recent trend has emerged that seems to imply that Vincent is closer to reemerging as the player the Lakers paid $33 million than ever before.
With injuries depleting the Lakers' depth and a need for consistency from the second unit, Vincent has helped Los Angeles right the ship. He's looked significantly more aggressive as a scorer, as well as improved on the defensive end of the floor.
As a result, the Lakers have won three of their past four games and may finally have the depth in the backcourt they've been searching for.
Lakers' Gabe Vincent is finally looking like himself again
Over the past eight games, Vincent has turned a corner. He's averaging 7.5 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.8 three-point field goals made in just 24.8 minutes per contest during that time, shooting 46.7 percent from beyond the arc.
The ebbs and flows have continued to some degree, but Vincent's defense has been reliable and his shot is finally coming along.
Vincent has scored at least 10 points in three of his past eight appearances, which is a welcome change from failing to do so a single time during his first 19 appearances in 2024-25. Beyond the numbers, he's been passing up fewer shots and accepting the need for a more aggressive mentality.
The process is far from complete as far as Vincent's ascension to sixth man status is concerned, but the Lakers are finally seeing signs of what they signed him for.
It should come as no surprise that Vincent's improvements have coincided with the Lakers making progress as a team. They'd lost four out of five games prior to his resurgence, but have since gone 4-4, including a recent 3-1 stretch.
It's also worth noting that the Lakers' past two losses have come by a combined 12 points—an encouraging response to the 109-80 and 134-83 defeats they'd previously endured.
Eight games obviously isn't enough for the Lakers to speak with confidence about what Vincent brings to the table, but it's a promising start. He doesn't need to rival the top scorers on the roster in their production, but Los Angeles needs him to play with confidence when the ball is in his hands.
If the recent stretch is a sign of things to come, then perhaps the player who posted six 20-point games during the 2023 NBA Playoffs could be close to remembering who they are.