Lakers News: Gabe Vincent Reveals How He Feels Returning From Oblique Injury
Today at 11:44 AM
As with other teams in the association, the Los Angeles Lakers have been plagued by injuries. However, L.A. has been missing rotation pieces up to this point. One such player is Gabe Vincent, who was sidelined for four games due to an oblique injury.
With D’Angelo Russell being traded to the Brooklyn Nets, the purple and gold took a hit to their guard depth with Russell leaving and Vincent being injured. That meant more on-ball responsibilities for Austin Reaves and LeBron James, which can certainly be taxing. Vincent provides that ability to be a point-of-attack defender, in addition to being able to take the ball up the floor.
Thankfully, the veteran guard was able to make his return on Thursday against the Dallas Mavericks. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a disappointing showing all around, but it was clear Vincent had a bit of rust trying to get back into rhythm offensively. The 28-year-old guard shared that he is, in fact, still a bit sore as he continues to fully recover from that oblique injury.
"My health is doing pretty good,” he said. “Still a little sore from the oblique. But overall, the body is doing pretty good.”
NBA players are usually dealing with some sort of nagging issue as they progress through an 82-game season. For Vincent, once he knew that he could not make his oblique injury worse, he knew that he was going to have to battle through pain and discomfort.
"It finally graduated to where soreness is just going to be present,” Vincent said. “And there's going to be some discomfort. Once I got to the place where I knew it wasn't going to get worse to go play and to go compete, after a couple of practices or workouts, I was able to go out there and do so. So it's responded well. I'm still taking care of it. I have to stay on top of it. I'm just glad that it's not worse like a few other guys around the league. But no. I've had quite a bit of time. I'm grateful that wasn't a severity of mine. And the training staff has done a great job."
The 28-year-old was getting into an offensive groove prior to missing time, quite frankly, playing his best basketball wearing a Lakers jersey. With guard depth still an issue as the trade deadline looms, hopefully, Vincent is able to recapture that magic to try and fill that void that Russell left.
Gabe Vincent believes Lakers’ trust & focus on defense have improved
Up to this juncture in the season, the Lakers defense has been a roller coaster ride with it consistently being up and done. However, as of late, L.A. is playing way better defense and Gabe Vincent thinks that is due to their trust and focus on that end.
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