Gabe Vincent feels the ‘sky is the limit’ for the Lakers this season if they stay healthy

After a season of battling injuries as a team, Gabe Vincent thinks the Lakers have a lot of potential this season if they can stay healthy.

Although Gabe Vincent was a Laker last year, the jury is still out on how he can fit with this team. In the 2023-24 season, Vincent only played in 11 games due to a knee injury that required surgery.

This year, he looks healthy, participating in all training camp activities and playing in both preseason games so far.

On Media Day, Vincent spoke with ESPN LA about the importance of he and the Lakers staying healthy and how good the team can be if they do so.

"I think health will play a big factor,” Vincent said. “But I think the sense of togetherness. I think this is a very talented group. I think the staff is phenomenal. The sky is the limit for what we can do if we can come together and play good basketball."

The best ability is availability. While this can be true for everyone, it's particularly factual for someone returning from injury who hasn't played consistently.

Vincent falls into this category, so fans will watch him play with bated breath, hoping his knee holds up and he can be a player they can regularly count on to be available. So far, he's been healthy this preseason and a solid contributor.

As Vincent stated, injuries were not just an issue for him but the team last season. Yes, LeBron James and Anthony Davis were always available, but Jarred Vanderbilt, Christain Wood and Vincent himself missed significant time and were part of the team’s rotation.

Even now, Wood is recovering from knee surgery and is out for a few more weeks, and Vanderbilt feels great but is not participating in training camp.

No team is ever completely healthy, but getting everyone back for extended periods of time is ideal and likely necessary for the Lakers to maximize their potential. If they are generally healthy, they should be able to have a better regular season than the one had last year.

Before becoming a Laker, Vincent had a career year as a member of the Miami Heat, averaging 9.4 points, 2.5 assists and 2.1 rebounds. He had some sensational moments during the NBA Finals, where he got hot from deep, going 9-16 from 3-point range in the first two games of that series.

If he can replicate the kind of production he had in Miami here in Los Angeles, it'll give the Lakers a quality backup guard they desperately lacked last season.

A borderline double-digit scorer might not seem important, but that kind of production would've placed Vincent as the sixth-best scorer on the Lakers last year.

Vincent is a streaky shooter from deep, with a career average of 33% from beyond the arc, but he's enough of a threat that defenders still have to respect him. This means he stretches the floor and opens up the spacing regardless of how many threes he's hit on any given night.

With JJ Redick wanting the Lakers to shoot more threes and even mentioning a desire for the team to shoot 50 3-pointers a game, Vincent will have the opportunity to excel in this system and reach his best-case scenario for the year.

After a dark 2023-24 campaign, this new season is looking bright for Vincent and so long as his body holds up, he’ll finally have a chance to shine in purple and gold.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.