Gabe Vincent may play in the Lakers’ away game against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday after missing the majority of the season due to left knee issues.
After missing the previous 46 games, Vincent was classified on Saturday’s injury report as questionable for Sunday’s game at Barclays Center.
As part of the team’s six-game tour, he arrived in Indianapolis prior to Friday’s 109-90 away loss to the Indiana Pacers.
Although Vincent did not play against the Pacers, Darvin Ham, the team’s coach, stated that before Vincent returned, he doubled his workload.
“We’re just taking things one day at a time right now,” Ham stated prior to the Pacers defeat. “He now has more job to do.
We’re currently attempting to see how his body reacts to that amount of work. And that’s the current status of things.
Vincent got injured in the first four games of the season and missed seven weeks due to a left knee effusion, or swollen joint.
After making a brief comeback in the road defeat against the Chicago Bulls on December 20, he hasn’t been in any games since.
On December 27, Vincent underwent surgery on his left knee, and the club stated at the time that he will return for another assessment in about eight weeks.
In the offseason, he signed a three-year, $33 million contract with the Lakers as a free agency, knowing that his role would be as the team’s primary backup guard.
Star forward LeBron James responded, “I really don’t want to get into it too much,” when questioned about Vincent. “Avoid putting him under excessive pressure. Our squad will benefit when he’s ready to go, but he’s been out for a while.
We’ve been waiting for him and will embrace him back whenever he’s ready because he is a brother and a teammate, but ultimately, we won’t be putting any pressure on him. He needs to go slowly.
The Lakers’ winning run came to an end at five games because they lacked the energy to compete with the quick-witted Pacers.
“We spent some time running through mud,” Ham remarked. “Four nights, third game. We have, however, been playing excellent basketball overall. We’ll start our recuperation process on Sunday, get our treatments and diet under control, and be ready to fight back.
The Lakers will play the Nets (28-45), Toronto Raptors (23-50), and Washington Wizards (14-60) on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, to round out their trip against three sub-.500 clubs.
James remarked, “That right there isn’t the thinking.” Saying we’re playing against teams that are below.500 cannot be the strategy, as it will always backfire. We may now begin our game. We know that Brooklyn defeated us in our previous meeting in Los Angeles, so we’re eager to face them again.
“They have some guys who can beat you, like Cam Thomas, and you know Dennis Schröder is always excited to play us because he’s on the team.” Because Mikal Bridges and those guys are professionals like us, we must prepare for that game on Sunday.
