After the playoffs, some industry insiders predicted that Gabe Vincent had a chance to secure a contract with an annual salary of tens of millions of dollars. On the first day of the NBA trading market, he did.
According to Shams, free agent Vincent signed a three-year, $33 million contract with the Lakers, both guaranteed contracts, and there were no other options, and the undrafted pick finally survived.
Vincent is 1.88 meters tall and weighs 91 kilograms, attended the University of California, Santa Barbara in college, played at a university that was not a basketball school, and averaged only 12.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, plus short height and average athleticism, which made him lose the selection in 2018 without suspense.
In pursuit of his dream, he joined the Kings' team and had a lackluster first season in the Development League, only to explode in his second season: averaging 23.4 points per game and shooting 42.1 percent from three-point range. The outstanding performance caught the attention of the Heat, and eventually he was offered a two-way contract, and after waiting two years, he finally became an NBA player.
Vincent helped Nigeria defeat the Chinese men's basketball team in the 2019 Men's Basketball World Cup, and also scored 21 points in the 2021 Olympic warm-up game, leading the team to defeat the US men's basketball team.
In his first season with the Heat, he was on the fringes of the team, averaging only 9.2 minutes of playing time in just 9 appearances, and he played most of his time with the Heat's subordinate teams, but he had to be ready to be called up by the team at any time, resulting in him running non-stop, rarely spending more than 48 hours in one place, and eating many times at the airport.
Sometimes he's playing for the Heat in Miami today, Sioux Falls 1,500 miles away tomorrow to play for the Heat's team, and a day or two later to play with the Heat on the road, and so on and so on just to get a chance.
Vincent once said, "You never know when or where the opportunity will arise, all you can do is practice in the dark, study the video where others can't see, and be ready." ”
Vincent then accelerated his shooting speed, which was no harm to a guard who was only 1.88 meters tall, allowing him to reduce the probability of being blocked or interfered with when shooting. In addition, he was originally a shooting-oriented shooting guard, and the team wanted him to become a two-way guard who could organize and defend, and he kept asking Lowry for transformation, not only learning to pass, but also how to create opponents' offensive fouls.
Year after year, the effort paid off, with Vincent shooting more than 40 percent from three-point range in both his third and fourth years with the Heat, gradually replacing Lowry as the starting point guard in the fourth year, and shining in the playoffs.
Adebayo called Vincent "Mr. Reliable" because he was so consistent, and Vincent's scoring efficiency has been very high from the first round of the playoffs to before the East Final, and the efficiency has dropped a lot after the East Final.
However, in the Finals, after his foot injury healed, he became the super efficient Vincent, and in the first two games of the Finals, he was the most consistent player on the Heat, resulting in him being targeted by the Nuggets in the next three games, his height disadvantage became more and more obvious, and his scoring efficiency fell off a cliff.
The Lakers signed Soncent, fans have mixed feelings, happy that Vincent has excellent three-point shooting ability, good organizational skills, and good defense. The worry is that the overall height of the team is short, the Western Conference final against the Nuggets is obviously disadvantaged, Murray completely ignored the defense of the three guards, played a crazy scoring performance, and now signed a short guard, what kind of trouble is the Lakers? One can only hope that the team will have other operations next, otherwise a Vincent really can't change anything.