DALLAS — The Lakers got the closest look at what their full rotation could be on Tuesday night – at least until other injured players return.
Backup guard Gabe Vincent was available and made his return to the court in the Lakers’ 118-97 loss to the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center.
Vincent missed the previous four games because of a strained left oblique, an injury he suffered in the Dec. 28 victory over the Sacramento Kings, playing just seven minutes in that game before making an early exit.
“Have missed his toughness first of all,” Coach JJ Redick said before the game. “He’s someone that has, as the season (goes on), it seems like he’s got increasingly tougher on the defensive end. His screening takes care of the basketball.
“Another handler. And then he’s shot the ball really well for a sustained stretch starting with that Utah game [on Dec. 1] when he was in the starting lineup. So we’ve missed him. He’s a pro. It’d be good to get a look at the group with him back.”
Vincent, who went scoreless (0-for-4 shooting) in 24 minutes to go with two assists and a rebound, replaced Shake Milton in the rotation.
Milton, who the Lakers acquired along with Dorian Finney-Smith in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets on Dec. 29, was in the rotation as the backup guard in the games Vincent sat out.
Vincent was playing the best basketball of his short, injury-plagued Lakers career before this latest setback.
He averaged 7.3 points on 43.9% shooting (45.5% from 3-point range) to go with two rebounds and 1.3 steals in the previous 11 games before being injured in the game against the Kings.
Tuesday offered the best look at the Lakers’ rotation since they acquired Finney-Smith and Milton.
VANDERBILT UPDATE
Just two days after Redick provided a positive update on Jarred Vanderbilt’s return to the court, saying he was ramping up, the team provided a more formal update on Tuesday.
The Lakers said before the game that the defensive-minded forward has made “meaningful strides in his return-to-play progression” and has advanced to full-court activities with contact, adding that he’ll be reevaluated in about one week.
Redick said Vanderbilt, who has been on the Lakers’ road trip that started with Sunday’s loss to the Houston Rockets, played five-on-five against coaches on Monday.
The team wants Vanderbilt to play “a few runs” against other players – his Lakers teammates or players from the organization’s South Bay G League affiliate – before he is cleared to return to the lineup, according to Redick.
“Obviously his defensive versatility and being able to guard up or down will be great for our group,” Redick said. “But I would just say, initially coming back, it’s going to be in small doses. That’s just the reality. He hasn’t played basketball in almost a year.
“We have to be cognizant of building him up for, hopefully, a playoff run. I’ll have a better answer for you once I see 10 minutes out there, 15 minutes out there, 18 minutes out there. [Then] I can give you a vision of how he fits in the group, but he’ll play and he’ll be valuable for us.”
Vanderbilt, who played just 29 games last season and hasn’t played this season after having surgery on his feet in May, also participated in the non-contact parts of practice on Dec. 30.
He hasn’t played since suffering a sprained right midfoot injury in the Lakers’ road win against the Boston Celtics last Feb. 1.
The team said on Dec. 3 that Vanderbilt’s return was being targeted for early January, saying at the time that he developed an effusion (swelling caused by fluid) in his left knee during his return-to-play process, altering the course of his progression.
“It starts with trusting your body, and that’s something that any athlete who has had a serious injury or had surgery knows,” Redick said when asked what will be the most challenging part for Vanderbilt after his return. “And it doesn’t happen in one game. It doesn’t happen in two games. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time to really trust your body. And then, the conditioning piece would probably be the other one. Those are probably the two biggest things.”