One NBA executive is enthusiastic about the Los Angeles Lakers’ signing of Gabe Vincent and compared the guard to former NBA player Mario Chalmers.
Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times looked at the positive reactions to the Lakers’ free agency moves, with the unnamed executive offering some insight into the comparison of Vincent to Chalmers.
“One league executive raved about the Lakers signing Gabe Vincent, saying the guard is ‘the perfect point guard to play alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis,'” wrote Woike.
“The executive cited Mario Chalmers as a player who reminds him of Vincent. ‘[Vincent] doesn’t need the ball, can shoot it and makes the right decisions. And, he can really defend.'”
Vincent has four years of NBA experience with the Miami Heat, a tenure that began in a humble fashion. After getting released by the Sacramento Kings, he signed a two-way deal with the Heat in January 2020.
During that first season with the Heat, Vincent played in only nine games. However, during the 2020-21 campaign, he started in seven of the 50 games he played with the team.
In each of the past two seasons, Vincent saw action in 68 regular season contests and has started a total of 61 contests. Vincent’s point production improved during this span, though it hasn’t quite gotten above the single-digit threshold yet.
Chalmers, who last played during the 2017-18 season, played the bulk of his career with the Heat before finishing up with two seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies.
During that career, Chalmers averaged 8.9 points per game, which is actually below Vincent’s average for the 2022-23 season of 9.4 points per contest.
The duo of James and Davis remains the centerpiece of the Lakers’ lineup. That means that feeding them the ball on a regular basis will be more important than having to rely on Vincent to up his point production.
Of course, making that happen requires both James and Davis to remain healthy, something that’s been difficult to achieve in recent years.
One indication of just how important a healthy James and Davis are to the Lakers is that the team reached the 2023 Western Conference Finals after two consecutive years of injury-plagued disappointment.
Some are of the opinion that Vincent’s modest NBA beginnings will mesh well in the Lakers’ backcourt with Austin Reaves. Two years ago, Reaves was an undrafted free agent and recently signed a lucrative new deal with the team.
Even though past enthusiasm about the Lakers’ potential has sometimes come crashing down, the arrival of Vincent is something that helps build enthusiasm for the coming campaign.
