The Los Angeles Lakers got off to a hot start to the 2025-26 season but have since cooled off a bit and have mostly been playing like a middle-of-the-pack team.
The reason for that is because they have some clear roster deficiencies. While the Lakers boast a roster with three stars in Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves, they have lacked two-way role players to support them.
Going back to the offseason, the Lakers made some quality moves to bring in Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia, all of which have made significant contributions this season.
If L.A. wants to be in the championship mix though then the roster needs some 3-and-D players on the wings and a rim-protecting center. Rob Pelinka has until the NBA trade deadline on Feb 5. to address all those needs, and it appears he has made his first move.
According to Shams Charania of ESPN, the Lakers are trading Gabe Vincent and a second-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for Luke Kennard:
The Los Angeles Lakers are trading Gabe Vincent and a 2032 second-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for Luke Kennard, sources tell ESPN.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 5, 2026
Lakers find a sharpshooter on the wings for Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and LeBron James while the Hawks land a veteran guard, create a $11 million trade exception and pick up an asset. https://t.co/GIY8HNo0Zp
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 5, 2026
This marks the end of Vincent’s tenure with the Lakers after a disappointing two-and-a-half seasons. Even though he is an expiring contract, they needed to attach their lone tradable second-round pick to unload him for Kennard, who is on an $11 million expiring deal. Vincent is making $11.5 million this season, so L.A. will save a little bit of money, which is important given how close they are to their first apron hard cap. That should give them a little flexibility to add a 15th player to their roster after the deadline if no other moves are made.
Kennard will certainly bring some outside shooting to the Lakers though as the 29-year-old has been one of the best in the league over the last handful of years.
In 46 games for the Hawks this season, Kennard is averaging 7.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 53.8% from the field and a league-leading 49.7% from 3-point range on 3.2 attempts per game. In his career, the Duke alum has shot 44.2% from deep.
While Kennard won’t provide much defensively for L.A., that is the type of outside shooting they have been looking for to add to their core of Doncic, James and Reaves.
Meanwhile, Vincent’s Lakers tenure comes to an end after playing in 112 games across three seasons, averaging 5.6 points on 38.1% shooting.
Rob Pelinka encouraged by Lakers’ depth
Even though moves were clearly needed, Rob Pelinka recently spoke about how encouraged he has been with the Lakers’ depth this season as they have managed to stay afloat despite numerous players missing time due to injury.
“We talked a lot about how we wanted to get younger with the roster and then more depth to your point, that was something we really focused on in July. If you look around the league at the successful teams, they’re young. Everyone’s playing fast, everyone’s playing physical. When we went out and added Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia and brought in Marcus Smart we really felt like that would fill out our depth and to see that happening in real time, proof of concept has been encouraging.”
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