{"id":176279,"date":"2026-02-05T11:16:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T16:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=176279"},"modified":"2026-02-05T11:16:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T16:16:27","slug":"lakers-acquire-perimeter-marksman-in-first-deadline-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/02\/05\/lakers-acquire-perimeter-marksman-in-first-deadline-move\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Acquire Perimeter Marksman in First Deadline Move"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Lakers have made a small but key splash Thursday, <\/span>trading<\/span><\/a> Gabe Vincent<\/span><\/a> and a 2032 second-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for <\/span>Luke Kennard<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lakers Acquire Perimeter Marksman in First Deadline Move<\/h2>\n

Kennard Could Fix Bench Scoring Woes<\/h3>\n

A nine-year veteran and former Duke Blue Devil, Kennard has averaged 7.9 points and 2.2 rebounds across 46 games off the bench. Known primarily for his perimeter prowess, he has shot a career-best 49.7% from three this season on 3.2 attempts per game.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lakers have notoriously struggled from the perimeter even with <\/span>Luka Doncic<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>LeBron James<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Austin Reaves<\/span><\/a>. While the trio has each shot a respectable mark from distance (Reaves at 36%, Doncic 34.8%, James 32.2%), the same could not be said for the supporting cast, making Kennard\u2019s acquisition all the more important. The 29-year-old has been a reliable bench asset throughout his career, and will now look to fill that role for the <\/span>worst offensive second-unit<\/span><\/a> in the league (and <\/span>second-worst group<\/span><\/a> when it comes to three-point shooting).<\/span><\/p>\n

Kennard\u2019s Lone (Yet Significant) Flaw<\/h3>\n
\"Mar
Mar 29, 2025; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Gabe Vincent (7) handles the ball as Memphis Grizzlies guard Luke Kennard (10) defends during the fourth quarter at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For all of Kennard\u2019s potential to help with perimeter scoring, the issue is that shooting is the veteran\u2019s lone strong suit. He likely won\u2019t do much to address the team\u2019s rebounding or defensive issues, making another move\u2014either via trade or the buyout market\u2014a priority for the Lakers\u2019 front office going forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s encouraging to see the Lakers get an upgrade over Vincent, who simply never panned out after LA signed him to a three-year, $33 million deal in the summer of 2023. In 112 games over two and a half seasons, Vincent averaged 5.6 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists on .381\/.341\/.765 splits. He will get a fresh start on a revamped Hawks team, who will absorb his salary <\/span>as part of a leftover trade exception<\/span><\/a> for <\/span>Bogdan Bogdanovic<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Lakers have made a small but key splash Thursday, trading Gabe Vincent and a 2032 second-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for Luke Kennard. Lakers Acquire Perimeter Marksman in First Deadline Move Kennard Could Fix Bench Scoring Woes A nine-year veteran and former Duke Blue Devil, Kennard has averaged 7.9 points and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":176281,"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":[1608,4,26,62,3,4721],"tags":[4556,4921,38,1133,769],"class_list":["post-176279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-hawks","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-austin-reaves","tag-gabe-vincent","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic","tag-luke-kennard"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176279","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=176279"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176285,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176279\/revisions\/176285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}