Los Angeles Lakers guard Gabe Vincent has been dealing with left knee effusion, forcing him to miss all but the first four games of the regular season.
He was supposed to be re-evaluated this week and although that hasn’t happened yet, Darvin Ham provided a positive update on Vincent before Saturday’s game against the Houston Rockets.
“He’s progressing along. Not as of yet, but he’s progressing really, really good,” Ham said.
Ham would also go on to reveal what Vincent has been able to do so far in his rehab.
“He’s been running on an [anti-gravity treadmill]. He’s doing some just conditioning, obviously in that regard, some normal weight-lifting stuff, shooting shots. But that’s it.”
This is good news for the Lakers, who have been extremely shorthanded through the first quarter of the regular season. Even though Vincent is progressing though, it likely will still be some time before he is able to return as the organization will want to ensure he’s 100% healthy to not risk further injury.
Vincent was the Lakers’ big signing of the offseason, using their non-taxpayer mid-level exception to pry him away from the Miami Heat to replace Dennis Schroder as their lead guard off the bench.
So far though, the Lakers have not been able to reap the benefits of that signing as Vincent missed time in the preseason with lower back soreness. After playing in the first four games of the regular season, Vincent went down with the knee issue and has been out ever since.
In addition to Vincent, the Lakers have also been without key pieces like Jarred Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura and Cam Reddish for long stretches so far this season. Because of that, LeBron James recently admitted that he has no clue who the Lakers are as a team yet despite being 11-9 through their first 20 games. Those three were all able to return on Saturday though, which was good to see.
In Vincent’s absence, guys like D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves and Max Christie have picked up the slack at the guard position with rookie Jalen Hood-Schifino even getting some time lately. What the Lakers have been missing though is a point of attack defender that can knock down timely shots, which is exactly what Vincent was signed to provide.
Ham emphasizes that Lakers won’t rush players back from injury
A lot of fans have been frustrated with how long it is taking injured players like Vincent to get back, especially when the team loses games they are capable of winning.
Ham recently emphasized that they will not rush back any players though, sticking with the process they have in place of ensuring guys are fully healthy to not risk more injuries down the line.
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