Lakers guard Gabe Vincent is expected to be sidelined for approximately two-to-four weeks after undergoing an MRI on his left ankle, sources tell Shams Charania and Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link).
NBA insider Chris Haynes reports (via Twitter) that Vincent, who started each of the Lakers’ first three games before sustaining the injury on Sunday, has a “slight ligament tear” as well as sprained ligaments in the ankle.
According to Dan Woike of The Athletic (Twitter link), Vincent was wearing a walking boot and using crutches ahead of Monday’s game vs. Portland.
The 29-year-old was limited to just 11 games due to a knee injury in his first season with the Lakers after signing a three-year, $33MM deal with Los Angeles in the 2023 offseason. He was much healthier last season (72 games), and was a rotation regular (21.2 minutes per contest) for head coach JJ Redick, averaging 6.4 points while shooting 35.3% from long distance and playing solid defense.
Vincent won a starting job to open ’25/26 after a four-game preseason slate in which he averaged 16.3 PPG and shot 55.6% from three in 22.3 MPG. The hot shooting hasn’t carried over to the regular season yet, as he was 2-of-10 from deep in three games.
Marcus Smart (right quad contusion) was also out Monday for the Lakers, who had a total of seven players unable to suit up, most notably Luka Doncic (finger, leg injuries) and LeBron James (right sciatica), tweets Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group.
Vincent is in the final year of his contract, which will pay him $11.5MM in ’25/26. He will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Called it
That sciatica will be the reason why LeBron calls it quits, eventually.
For some reason, JJ Reddick and Co thought four pre-season games gave them more insight into Gabe Vincent than his previous 7 seasons.