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 🥀
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.
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
Lakers needed shooting. This is a good deal.
??? 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.
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?
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
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.