{"id":170195,"date":"2025-12-18T12:00:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T17:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=170195"},"modified":"2025-12-18T12:00:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T17:00:23","slug":"lakers-injury-gabe-vincent-utah-jazz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/12\/18\/lakers-injury-gabe-vincent-utah-jazz\/","title":{"rendered":"Injury Woes Continue for Lakers Veteran Guard"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Lakers\u2019 guard rotation continues to drop like flies, as the team announced a concerning update to veteran contributor <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/vincega01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gabe Vincent<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Injury Woes Continue for Lakers Veteran Guard<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>Reports: Vincent Out with Back Tightness<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vincent will miss at least one week due to \u201clower back tightness,\u201d according to The Athletic\u2019s Dan Woike. The 29-year-old is the second Lakers guard to go down with an injury as of late, with <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reaveau01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Austin Reaves<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> already nursing a calf strain.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Los Angeles Lakers guard Gabe Vincent has been diagnosed with lower back tightness. Vincent will be re-evaluated in approximately one week, the team says<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DanWoikeSports\/status\/2001689262216139102?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 18, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vincent has been relatively underwhelming since he joined the Lakers in 2023. Across 97 games (17 starts), he has averaged 5.8 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists on .386\/.336\/.767 splits. His tenure has been marred with several ailments, from <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/39182663\/source-lakers-pg-gabe-vincent-knee-surgery\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">midseason knee surgery<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in late December 2023 to a <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/46752526\/sources-lakers-gabe-vincent-ankle-expected-2-4-weeks\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">left ankle sprain<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> this past October, which kept him out for 11 games. In 14 appearances this year (21.5 minutes), he put up 4.7 points, 0.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists on .350\/.362\/1.000 splits.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With Vincent sidelined and <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/smartma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marcus Smart<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> already starting, it leaves the Lakers\u2019 bench in a major predicament. Two-way contract guard <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/smithni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nick Smith Jr.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has turned heads in nine games\u2014averaging 7.8 points and 1.6 assists on 46% shooting from the field and 48% from three\u2014so there\u2019s a chance head coach JJ Redick calls his number soon. <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesbr02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bronny James<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/stats.gleague.nba.com\/player\/1642355\/boxscores\/?Season=2025-26&amp;SeasonType=Showcase\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">played with LA\u2019s G League affiliate Tuesday night<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, could also be recalled out of necessity.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_170201\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-170201\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-170201 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/12\/USATSI_27750400_168402037_lowres-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Dec 5, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) drives past Los Angeles Lakers guard Gabe Vincent (7) during the second half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/12\/USATSI_27750400_168402037_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/12\/USATSI_27750400_168402037_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/12\/USATSI_27750400_168402037_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/12\/USATSI_27750400_168402037_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/12\/USATSI_27750400_168402037_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/12\/USATSI_27750400_168402037_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/12\/USATSI_27750400_168402037_lowres.jpg 1933w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-170201\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dec 5, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) drives past Los Angeles Lakers guard Gabe Vincent (7) during the second half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>Lakers Injury Report vs. Utah Jazz &#8211; Dec. 18, 6 p.m. PT<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Lakers are missing Reaves, Vincent, and <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/aytonde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deandre Ayton<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (<\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nba\/los-angeles-lakers\/lakers-news-deandre-ayton-out-jazz-elbow-injury?utm_source=MambaBasketball&amp;utm_medium=fb&amp;utm_campaign=social\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">elbow<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) ahead of tonight\u2019s road clash against the Utah Jazz. That could lead to some interesting decisions with yet another shorthanded rotation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Lakers\u2019 guard rotation continues to drop like flies, as the team announced a concerning update to veteran contributor Gabe Vincent. Injury Woes Continue for Lakers Veteran Guard Reports: Vincent Out with Back Tightness Vincent will miss at least one week due to \u201clower back tightness,\u201d according to The Athletic\u2019s Dan Woike. The 29-year-old is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":170202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62,3],"tags":[4556,4572,1419,4921,2279,1133,4757],"class_list":["post-170195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","tag-austin-reaves","tag-bronny-james","tag-deandre-ayton","tag-gabe-vincent","tag-jj-redick","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nick-smith-jr"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170195"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170210,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170195\/revisions\/170210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}