On the whole, signing Gabe Vincent to a three-year, $33 million contract during the 2023 offseason was a rough miss for the Los Angeles Lakers front office. The frustrating part of it all is, despite his shortcomings, the veteran guard still offers the Lakers something no one else does.
Vincent is a streaky shooter. That creates plenty of headaches for the Lakers offensively. Even so, the backup point guard is knocking down above the league average from beyond the arc. His combination of marksmanship and defense is not without purpose in the rotation.
However, his expiring contract and respectable skill set still make him the likeliest player to be traded out of any man on the Lakers roster. Grant Hughes pointed out the dilemma in his recent write-up for Bleacher Report.
Hughes wrote, "Rui Hachimura's shooting is too valuable, and Jarred Vanderbilt's contract runs into 2027-28. That leaves Gabe Vincent as the most logical mid-tier salary the Los Angeles Lakers might consider trading."
Gabe Vincent is stuck between trade asset and key rotational player
Hughes thought that while Vincent was not going to help net a 'major upgrade,' he could be in a package that gives the Lakers a boost through acquiring a 'rotation-worthy defender' that had more size and versatility. That is something Los Angeles has been known to be in the market for.
There was even thought to a pursuit of Daniel Gafford making sense with Vincent's contract being featured. The Dallas Mavericks certainly would not mind the help at the point guard position, and the expiring money would allow future freedom for a team hoping to retool around Cooper Flagg.
In an ideal world, the Lakers could use another one of their mid-tier contracts to help add some juice to the roster. Maxi Kleber is on a similar salary to Vincent, earning $11 million on a deal set to expire after this season.
However, the Lakers big man does not offer much value in the short-term of being very usable. During his 10 appearances this season, Kleber has only averaged 1.8 points and 1.8 rebounds in his 12.1 minutes per game, shooting 40.0 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from 3-point land.
Vincent offers playability and an expiring contract. Kleber mostly serves up the latter.
Perhaps the Lakers can explore other avenues on the trade market to find themselves a suitable replacement should they choose to move on from their backup guard. In any case, Rob Pelinka will need to carefully thread the needle with his handling of this situation.