Los Angeles Lakers guard Gabe Vincent was ruled out of the second half of Saturday night’s game against the Sacramento Kings after going down with an oblique strain in the second quarter.
The injury came at a suboptimal time for the Lakers as Vincent got the start in place of LeBron James, who missed the game with an illness.
In the seven minutes that Vincent played before suffering the injury, he had one rebound and one shot attempt but did not score.
Cam Reddish also went down with back spasms against the Kings but was deemed able to return, which was big considering the perimeter defense L.A. was lacking once Vincent went down.
It remains to be seen how serious the injury is for Vincent, who missed a majority of last season with knee issues. The Lakers don’t play again until Tuesday so the hope is that a couple of days off will allow him to rest and get healthy without missing anymore games.
Vincent worked extremely hard to get to a place where he was 100% healthy and able to contribute for the Lakers, so it would be unfortunate if he suffered a significant setback here.
Lakers coach JJ Redick likes Gabe Vincent’s defensive toughness
Gabe Vincent has seen his role increase with the Lakers in recent weeks and a big reason for that has been his defensive toughness, which head coach JJ Redick recently praised.
“I think the biggest thing is just his defensive toughness and he I think has played aggressive throughout this season, it’s not like he’s passing stuff up. He’s just not as invplved when he’s like the third ball-handler, if that makes sense. Versus the first or second ball-handler. I’m certainly comfortable putting Gabe out there on the court.”
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