Do not look now, but within the next week or two the Lakers could have their entire roster fully healthy for the first time all season. Christian Wood was the latest Laker to catch the injury bug, going down with a knee injury two weeks ago which should be re-evaluated in the days to come. Hopefully, the team will receive some good news on his status and have him back on the floor in the next week or so.
While they await a (hopefully) positive update on Wood, there was good news released today in regards to their other wounded soldier. Gabe Vincent, whom some have tethered to the infamous Kendrick Nunn, is set to return by the end of this month. While the front office's investment in him was mostly applauded, the early returns have not been great.
In the five games he has suited up so far, the $33 million man has averaged just 5.4 PPG, 1.0 RPG, 3.0 APG, and 1.2 SPG in 25.4 MPG on icy shooting splits of 37.5% FG/11.8% 3/50.0% FT. While Vincent's impact has never been largely reflected in the box score, it is needless to say that those pedestrian numbers are not on par with what he is capable of.
On top of his early struggles, it also will not help his case for playing time having newly-inked Spencer Dinwiddie in town. With Dinwiddie similarly struggling to find his footing early on in his Lakers tenure, the two could theoretically find themselves locked into a late-season battle for postseason minutes at the backup point guard spot.
Zooming out from the point guard position to the entire depth chart as a whole, it will be intriguing to see how Darvin Ham constructs his rotation with a fully healthy squad. We have seen him make multiple major rotation changes at various points this season, so there is truly no telling what he has up his sleeve. With that in mind, here is what the rotation could look like once Wood and Vincent are back in the fold.
Ideal Lakers rotation when Gabe Vincent returns:
STARTERS
- PG: D'Angelo Russell | 30 MPG
- SG: Austin Reaves | 30 MPG
- SF: Rui Hachimura | 25 MPG
- PF: LeBron James | 32 MPG
- C: Anthony Davis | 34 MPG
BENCH
- PG: Gabe Vincent | 16 MPG
- SG: Spencer Dinwiddie | 15 MPG
- SF: Taurean Prince | 14 MPG
- PF: Jarred Vanderbilt | 18 MPG
- C: Christian Wood | 16 MPG
RESERVES
- PG: Jalen Hood-Schifino
- SG: Max Christie
- F: Maxwell Lewis
- F: Cam Reddish | 10 MPG
- C: Jaxson Hayes
With the starting 5 locked in, Ham's biggest challenge in terms of rotational balancing will be spreading minutes around to his backup guards/wings. Vincent, Dinwiddie, Taurean Prince, Max Christie and Cam Reddish all deserve minutes. However, there is simply not going to be enough to go around, and there is going to inevitably be an odd man out. More often times than not, that odd man out has been the youngster Christie this season.
Darvin Ham has shown a tendency to lean towards his veterans (as most head coaches do) since taking over the reins in Los Angeles. As the playoffs get closer, he will almost undoubtedly continue to look to those battle-tested guys over the likes of the 21-year-old Christie.
It will ultimately come down to who can hit shots and provide stout defense consistently around the core guys, but it is actually pretty scary just how deep this team is on paper. And people may have written Gabe Vincent off, but right around this time a year ago, his legend began to grow in Miami. Let's see if he has some more late-season magic left over from 2022-2023.