8:03 pm:Â The trade is official, the Lakers and Hawks confirmed.
9:40 am: The Lakers and Hawks have agreed to a trade, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), who hears from sources that Atlanta is acquiring guard Gabe Vincent and the Lakers’ 2032 second-round pick from Los Angeles in exchange for sharpshooter Luke Kennard.
Dan Woike of The Athletic first reported (Twitter link) that the Lakers were closing in on a deal sending Vincent to the Hawks.
Finding another shooter was among the Lakers’ priorities heading into the deadline, and they’re able to fill that role with Kennard, who’s connecting at 49.7% from beyond the arc in 46 games this season. Kennard, 29, is also a Duke alum, just like head coach JJ Reddick.
Vincent, 29, wasn’t able to provide the value the Lakers were hoping when they signed him as a free agent in the summer of 2023. Injuries played a role as he was limited to 11 games in his first season in L.A. and has appeared in just 29 this year. He’ll get a fresh start in Atlanta before becoming an unrestricted free agent this summer.
The two players have similar expiring contracts with Kennard at $11MM and Vincent at $11.5MM, so the trade won’t carry any major financial implications, either this season or beyond.
The Lakers parted with their last available second-round pick in the trade, notes Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Twitter link). However, he points out that the $500K they save in the exchange could be useful on the buyout market, since they didn’t have a ton of breathing room below their first-apron hard cap.
The Hawks will create an $11MM traded player exception in the deal, Charania adds (Twitter link). That means they figure to absorb Vincent’s contract into the TPE from last year’s Bogdan Bogdanovic trade — that $13.1MM exception would have expired on Friday, so Atlanta is essentially rolling it over for another year.
The Hawks also agreed to a deal on Wednesday to acquire Buddy Hield from Golden State, and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line hears that they plan to keep both Hield and Vincent on their roster (Twitter link).
The first trade I really hate for the Hawks at the deadline… why Gabe Vincent? The Hawks just helped the Lakers get a good shooter smh
Moves I want to see: Reroute Buddy Hield, Reroute Gabe Vincent. None of those are probably happening 🥀
We get much better defensively with this move. Luke was the worst defender on our team after we traded Trae. We already have Kispert & now Buddy as our snipers. I rather we moved Kispert but obv he has negative value. Vincent is a solid backup pg with way more postseason experience than Keaton Wallace.
As far as the Lakers, apparently they’ve decided that defense isn’t all that important. I’m looking forward to seeing how stout a Reaves/Luka/Kennard backcourt can be defensively on the court together. I’m pretty sure I already know the answer tho.
Meh
I really like this trade from the Lakers. We needed a guy who can shoot 3s consistently, and we got just that. Excited to see what he can do. Let’s go Lakeshow!
JJ Redick better tell him to shoot the ball a lot because in some games he is afraid of taking a shot for whatever reason
JJ I think will be a great coach for Luke.
JJ isn’t a great coach for anyone but wannabe podcasters.
Im glad someone else noticed this. Kennard is obv a great shooter but his %s are so high in large part bc of how selective a shooter he is. Unlike most great NBA shooters, Kennard isn’t a gunner. He’s pretty much only gonna shoot when he’s open. In theory this is a great thing & how everyone should play. But in practice there’s only 24secs on that shot clock & there’s gonna be frustration when your best shooter is passing up a makeable shot just to hand a grenade to a teammate.
Laker fans are funny. There’s a reason this guy’s on his third team in 4 years. He’s a decent shooter. He’s not really going to move the needle much. He’s more of a needs the ball in his hand type of guy and not really that much of an upgrade from gabe Vincent.
I don’t think you guys understand the style of play. The Lakers play is the reason why you guys can’t be good teams because you get behind playing. No defense and then it becomes a LeBron Luca and Austin Reeves show. As a basketball player, if you haven’t touched the ball or shot the ball and four or five plays, you’re not just going to knock down wide open threes without a rhythm
I don’t think I said it’d be a needle mover… He’s just a nice shooter to have to knock down a couple more threes
Calling a guy shooting 50% from 3 a decent shooter is funny. Bottom line is he’s an upgrade from Vincent, who was contributing next to nothing.
Understand style of play? While Lakers defense is admittedly poor (and I don’t think kennard is putting anyone into a different tier), there are tons of guys in the league who do zero on ball, don’t touch the ball much, but shoot a high percentage from 3. Lu dort shot 40% over the past two seasons. Tari Eason is at 48 right now and many of the other leaders don’t touch the ball
Lue dort and Eason play defense. So if you get two 3’s and give up 8 your a negative 2. So you will see he won’t shoot the same percentage on the Lakers. But hey no need to argue you Laker fans will scap goat him when you’re out in the 2nd round.
No need to argue with someone who moves the goalposts when proven incorrect by examples. You said guys couldn’t shoot when they don’t touch the ball because they don’t have a rhythm. It’s not hard to acknowledge a decent trade because you hate the Lakers. Hard pressed for anyone logical to call this a bad trade. But hey, I’ll wait for your reply when you posit an entirely different point than your original one I addressed
It doesn’t move the needle the problem with the team is not 3 point shooting. I never said he couldn’t shoot. I he doesn’t move the needle look at my top comment. Lakers have no defense he doesn’t play defense. It’s why he is getting passed around like a blunt. Guys who shot 50 percent don’t get traded. The same clip he is shooting will not translate to the Lakers. If it does good for him. Won’t stop the other team from scoring. I’m not a Lakers hater. Laker fans are outrageous and have unrealistic trades, takes and expectations on the there team. Now tell me how I moved the goal post and was wrong. Gab is a better defender, so when do you play kanrd and not get scored on more? Tell me?
Bro shoots 2 3’s a game. That’s why he is shooting 50 percent. Hit one miss one. How does this help the Lakers? What role is he going to play? What line up? How does it help the defense. Man I played ball. You can talk all that nonsense I’m not hearing it. You looked at stats and thought you were cooking. Ever sit gives this trade a C-. And it will age even worse when you start playing playoff teams
I know you’re not hearing it because you’re forming your opinions outside of reality and then when confronted with truth, you switch up. I’m not going to play answering hypotheticals with you just because you long to find a statement I make so you can again change what you said originally.
That’s why you’re sending multiple replies at once lmao. Now you want to make a volume argument lol. Got called out and reverted to your default of just saying stuff. You can type a couple more paragraphs making different points again, I’m done with this thread
Haha I confronted you with facts and now your deflecting. Go back a read my first message I’m off of this
Buying buckets: “As a basketball player, if you haven’t touched the ball or shot the ball and four or five plays, you won’t make wide open threes.”
Me: “there are multiple guys in the 3 point percentage leaders who don’t touch the ball play after play. Here are a few…”
Buying buckets: “what was also in my comment (but that only I could see in my head) was that kennard also doesn’t play defense. Yeah that’s what I was saying ”
Buying buckets: “no what was also in my comment about not touching the ball was that kennard shoots a low volume of threes (he doesn’t per 36 but whatever)”
Buying buckets: “what I ALSO meant to say was what lineups will kennard play in? And how does the leader in 3 point percentage help a team that’s like 22nd in 3 point percentage and volume.”
Whatever dude
That was a question to you and you never provided and analyze that my statement are correct. What are you getting by copying and posting my comments. What point are you trying to make. The Lakers are better? He is a great shooter? You make no sense and show your not that intelligent with whatever dude.
You know what, “your” probably right, I’m not. Lmao
If Lakers fans are funny what do you make of the warriors fans here…lol
They’re catching up brother. They have some wild takes. Most of them are good sports. I will give him that they just have unrealistic expectations
Lakers needed shooting. This is a good deal.
They need defense much more than they need shooting
??? So you trade a 3 pt shooter for another 3pt shooter plus give up a 2nd round pick for him. Hopw does that improve the team unless its a flip.
Vincent hasn’t been consistent during his short Lakers tenure. Might as well flip em and try someone like Kennard.
Waiting to see if they make a play for Green to fix their defense. Don’t laugh there is rumors that Lakers want him.
Kennard is 3″ taller.
Vincent is shooting 35% from the field and Kennard has the best 3pt% in the league.
Vincent is nowhere near as good a shooter as Kennard. Luke is a 40%+ 3pt shooter. I wouldn’t be surprised if his career 3pt numbers weren’t closer to 45%. He’s taller, passes, and rebounds better than Gabe too while playing about the same meh defense.
Gabe is 34% lifetime and 37% this year from 3’s. Kennard is 44% lifetime and 50% from 3s this year.
No, these two are not the same. Imagine all the free looks he will get with Luka, Reaves and Bron now.
don’t they have knecht for that and it didn’t work out. You pit that lineup out there and the other team scores easily. lakers need defense
Lakers will roll with what they now have. That was the plan when the traded for Luka. Ride with an imperfect roster till next year. Once noon (west coast time) comes and goes and if GA is still a Buck Lakers are the biggest trade deadline winner.
Lakers are in a good position next year to build the team around Luka. They will have money to spend. They can let LeBron go along with a few other players and sign some quality free agents.
There you are Johnny. Are you guys back to being contenders yet?
Anyone who has watched Gabe Vincent over the past almost two seasons has had trouble figuring out how he’s still in the league. He’s been that useless on the floor.
one guy is shooting .35/37/90 and the other 52/59/94? was that a real quotation
one guy is shooting .35/37/90 and the other 52/59/94? was that a real question?
Definitely gotta have a guy (ideally two!), playing with Luka and LeBron, that can stand there with their hands ready…
and stand there….
and stand…
and stand some more…
and then finally get the ball… and can STILL make the jumpshot.
That’s a different shooting skillset.
Hopefully Luke can do that.
If imaginable the Lakers just got even worse defensively.
Vincent wasn’t stopping anything. Foot speed seems to have declined since Miami (maybe it’s injuries) and he’s tiny. Small guards were running right by him and bigger guards just take it to him. Next stop, Tel Aviv
If you think Gabe Vincent is a bad defender then you’re gonna be shocked that Kennard is a pro athlete when you watch him play.
No I’m definitely not saying kennard is better, he’s worse. I’m just saying Vincent is no longer a good defender. He didn’t even look average when he played imo
Luka will need 60 a game so they don’t get blown out.
Luke is a wonderful player and competitor. He will provide the Lakers with steady shooting, especially under JJ. This is a very good trade for the lakers… I think they could be contenders with this roster, if Luka and Ayton take their pick and rolls to the next level… Otherwise the nuggets are still better. I think that the Spurs and thunder are truly the top two, but seeding will determine the outcome of the playoffs. Whichever team has to face OKC, Spurs, Nuggets twice, including themselves, probably isn’t going to the NBA finals.
Stephen A Smith is about to go on a Kwame Brown rant about how bad Vincent was for the lakers
Knect, Reaves, and Kennard Spider-Man meme.
Excellent pickup! Helps Lakers score 120+ per night while still losing by 20 for lack of defense. Love to see more 3s on the way to the play-in 9 or 10 seed. Well done Pelinka.
The Miami Heat Vincent the Lakers thought they were getting in 2023 stayed in Miami — never arriving in LA. Vincent gave the Lakers straight cardio…with 0s consistently across his game stat line—never impacted the game—a ghost out there on a nightly basis. The Lakers went from getting absolutely nothing from Vincent in 3 years on the team unjustifiably taking up cap space from his rewarded “Miami Playoff Performances” overpaid contract to receiving the NBA leader in 3PT% this season, and providing Luka, AR, and LBJ with a bulls-eye target practice on the floor. Very well done, Pelinka!
Kennard’s free throw attempt totals are about to increase big time.
solid take
I don’t get this for the Hawks
Sign Dink Pate and Jazian Gortman or Bryson Warren or Jalen Hood-Schifino or Trevon Kneels or Mark Sears or Kobe Bufkin another chance as a PG prospect? and Charles Bediako so he can stop complaining and see if he has potential on two way contracts. Cody Zeller or Taj Gibson?
Waive Koloko, Houstan, Reath and Dennis
Rounds out the deep bench
Sign Pate, Warren, Bediako or some young C and Gibson
Waive Koloko, Houston, Reath and Dennis
Ibou Badji and John Butler