The Los Angeles Lakers have gotten mostly fully-healthy seasons out of LeBron James and Anthony Davis this season. However, it has been the supporting cast around the two superstars that has dealt with a lion share of injuries this season.
The most disappointing of which has been Gabe Vincent, who has played a grand total of five games with the Lakers since signing a three-year deal over the summer. Vincent has been dealing with a knee injury and at one point, it was reported that his season was over.
Those reports have proven to be premature, as Vincent not only looks to be returning this season but will return soon. Vincent is not on track to play the Lakers' next game on Friday, but he should be back in the fold by Sunday.
Lakers guard Gabe Vincent is scheduled to join team during current road trip and is expected to be available to play vs. the Nets on Sunday barring setback, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Vincent has been out since Dec. 20 due to knee surgery. pic.twitter.com/qIWF6mbHJB
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 28, 2024
This is great news for the Lakers as it adds depth right in time for the playoffs and does so with someone who was excellent in last year's postseason. However, there are two sides of every coin and Vincent returning also opens the door for Darvin Ham to do something truly terrifying.
Gabe Vincent returning gives Darvin Ham the chance to play a four-guard Lakers lineup
Ham has not been very good as a head coach this season and has made questionable decisions that not only go against logic, but have directly resulted in the Lakers losing games as a result. With how he has coached this season, it is absolutely fair to expect him to botch Vincent's return and make it a bad thing.
Ham fell in love with the three-guard lineup last season and has even deployed it since bringing in Spencer Dinwiddie. The trio of Dinwiddie, D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves have played 110 minutes together. That is the ninth-most minutes among every three-player lineup that Dinwiddie has been a part of in LA.
With Vincent in the fold don't be surprised if Ham goes with the four-guard lineup. As ludicrous as it seems, there definitely will be points where Ham rolls out Vincent, Russell, Dinwiddie, Reaves and a fifth member. That fifth member will likely be LeBron James or Anthony Davis as the coach staggers the superstars' minutes.
And as Lakers fans know all too well already, this won't work. Ham needs to stick with what is working (giving Rui Hachiumra playing time) and not try to reinvent the wheel. He already did that to start the year, and it obviously did not work out very well.