As his injury rehab continues, Gabe Vincent looks set to reportedly return to the Lakers within the next month.
Despite coming into the season as the Lakers’ marquee free agent signing, Gabe Vincent has assumed the role of afterthought through no fault of his own this season. A knee injury has effectively cost him the entire season and, over the last month-plus, he’s been rehabbing from surgery on his left knee.
Since that surgery, he’s largely disappeared, but his rehab has continued and Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports provided an update on where things stand.
Lakers guard Gabe Vincent, who’s become included in Los Angeles’ outgoing trade conversations, sources said, appears on track to return by early March. Vincent underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee during the final days of December. He was given an 8-10 week recovery period and has so far been recuperating on schedule, sources said.
It’s a bit interesting that Fischer reports it as an 8-10 week recovery timeline when the initial reports had it at 6-8 weeks. There probably isn’t anything to it other than a miscommunication or an initial timeline being stretched out a little bit. It’s not really that notable, just an interesting difference.
What we know for certain is Vincent underwent surgery on Dec. 27. Eight weeks from that date is Feb. 21. Any wiggle room on either side of that date would be between the end of the month and early March, as reported.
Effectively, this report more or less confirms Vincent’s rehab is still on schedule. This also puts him on roughly the same return timetable as Jarred Vanderbilt, who will be re-evaluated in 3-4 weeks.
If Vando returns to the court at that time, the Lakers could welcome both back for the final push of the season.
Will there be a season to bolster for the Lakers at that point? Now that’s an entirely different question.
By Jacob Rude