Overview:
Gabe Vincent rebounds from a slow start with the Lakers; Ajay Mitchell expects to return from injury in time to make a playoff run with the Thunder
I was computing my basketball heroes’ statistics by the age of 9, but I nearly flunked a class in Mathematical Logic as a college senior.
I therefore must footnote math professor John Allen Paulos — a genius in the study of probability theory — in my prediction that former UC Santa Barbara stars Gabe Vincent and Ajay Mitchell will weather their latest NBA challenges.
“Knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security,” Paulos asserted, and no two are better at that than those self-assured, former Gauchos.
Vincent, in the second season of a three-year, $33 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, has had one foot pushed out the door of Crypto.com Arena if recent trade rumors are to be believed.
A foot injury, meanwhile, has interrupted Mitchell’s sensational rookie season with the Oklahoma City Thunder — and put his much-anticipated contract upgrade into question.
Both players persevere, however, when the going gets severe.
Vincent Van Go
A knee injury last season turned nearly all of Vincent’s maiden voyage with the Lakers into a shipwreck. He played in only 11 games.
And bloggers were calling for his benching — if not for his braided head — after his slow start in the first 19 games of this season.
Vincent averaged just 2.8 points on 31.3% shooting — 20.9% from three-point range — through the entire months of October and November.
He failed to reach double-figure scoring even once.
But Vincent was known at UCSB for staying the course no matter the turbulence.
His junior year of 2016-2017 also was cut short by a major knee injury — a setback that sent the Gauchos into the death spiral of a 6-22 season.
But Vincent’s extreme diligence in rehabilitating that knee got him back onto the court in time to lead UCSB to a 23-9 record — the biggest turnaround in NCAA Division I basketball during the 2017-2018 season.
“It wasn’t easy trying to come back and play immediately,” Vincent recalled. “I came back around the nine-month mark and didn’t necessarily feel great.
“I knew I could impact the game and, as a competitor, I wanted to play, so I took the leap of faith. And thankfully it worked out.”
Things are now working out for the 6-foot-2 Laker. He’s shot 44.4% overall (52-for-117) and 38% from three (30-for-79) in the 20 games of December and January.
Vincent has helped the Lakers win five of their last six games, which included Saturday’s 118-108 victory at Golden State.
One of his best performances came in last week’s 117-108 victory over his former team, the Miami Heat.
He made 6-of-9 shots, which included a pair of threes, and scored 14 points with four assists.
Vincent reflected upon his resurgence with the same, thoughtful aplomb that defines his approach to basketball.
“I think there’s a lot of noise around this game,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of noise around this organization within this league.
“But I don’t think there’s anything I’ve done more in my life than shoot a basketball, so that’s going to be the last thing I lose confidence on.
“I’ve made big shots in big games. I’ve missed shots, too; that’s how the game goes. But the confidence itself never really wavers.”
Vincent’s improved play, ironically, could work against him. He’s now become even more attractive as trade bait for a Lakers’ team in need of a backup center.
Both Anthony Davis and LeBron James have called for some front-line help, and Vincent’s name was recently mentioned in a proposed deal for Washington Wizards center Jonas Valančiūnas.
The NBA trade deadline looms at High Noon (Pacific time) Feb. 6.
Lakers coach J.J. Redick admires the way that Vincent has handled it all.
“He’s been aggressive, which I like,” he said. “It goes back to something I’ve said a few times … which is just if your effort and your spirit and your competitiveness and the things we’re asking you to do are there, I can live with making and missing shots.
“He’s someone who has been in a ton of big games, and been in stressful environments, so he’s an easy player to trust.”
Heat of the Moment
Vincent helped propel Miami into the 2023 NBA Finals as the Heat’s starting point guard. He averaged 12.7 points and 3.5 assists per game throughout those playoffs.
But if worth were quantified by numbers alone, you could hire a grade-school stat nerd to run your NBA team.
Vincent’s value to Miami even went beyond his efforts as a top-shelf defender.
“He has the emotional stability to handle different roles that not every player in this league can accept,” coach Erik Spoelstra said during the Heat’s playoff run. “He can play off the ball, he can play on the ball, he can play as a little bit more a scorer, he can be more of a facilitator if we have our full health.
“Those kind of guys are so invaluable in this league.”
The chemistry he brewed as a teammate was an important ingredient in Miami’s secret sauce.
The team’s chemistry has blown up without him this season.
The Heat suspended temperamental superstar Jimmy Butler on Wednesday for the second time in three weeks for a “continued pattern of disregard of team rules, insubordinate conduct and conduct detrimental to the team.”
Butler, who has made several demands to be traded, drew the latest penalty after missing the team’s Wednesday flight to Milwaukee.
His resentment contrasts dramatically from the contentment that Vincent helped foster two years earlier.
NBA insider Jake Fischer wrote in his “The Stein Line Newsletter” that the Heat’s kumbaya environment evaporated after the departure of such players as Vincent and Kyle Lowery, now with the Philadelphia 76ers.
He quoted former Heat guard Caleb Martin as saying that Vincent cultivated the camaraderie by even joining Butler’s constant, late-night games of dominoes.
“Doing stuff off the court, playing dominoes, having dinner, extracurricular activities,” said Martin, who also is now with the 76ers. “Whatever you do, that kinda trickles onto the court.
“It’s important to have that off-the-court stuff, for sure.”
Miami lost that connective piece when the Lakers outbid the Heat’s final offer to Vincent of $9 million per year.
Heartfelt Words
The impact of Vincent’s voice in the Lakers’ locker room came through loud and clear when the team chose him to address the fans before their Jan. 13 home game against San Antonio.
The wildfires that killed at least 28 people and destroyed more than 17,000 structures in the Los Angeles area had postponed the team’s previous two games.
“On behalf my teammates, this organization, our hearts go out to all those who have been affected by this,” Vincent told the crowd. “We’d definitely like to give a shoutout to the first responders who are putting their lives on the line right now to protect our community.
“I think it’s important at this time that we come together as a city, as a community, as a family, to help support those who are in need right now.”
Perhaps Vincent has now become too valuable for the Lakers’ own community to lose.
Redick intimated as much while describing the congruence the team showed in defeating the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics on Wednesday.
Vincent scored 12 points by making 4-of-7 threes, handed out four assists, and was one of the cogs that turned a well-aligned wheel.
“Our communication, our execution, our energy — it was all there,” Redick said. “This group is learning to not just accept their roles but embrace them.
“Bad teams reject roles. Good teams accept roles. Great teams embrace them. We’re trending in that direction.”
Mitchell’s Toe Jam
A big chunk of Mitchell’s NBA season was postponed at about the same time the Lakers canceled their two games.
He tore a ligament in the big toe of his left foot — an injury known as “turf toe” — during Oklahoma City’s Jan. 10 victory over the New York Knicks.
He underwent surgery a week later. Doctors said afterward that it will be another “10 to 12 weeks” — sometime in late March or early April — before they re-evaluate his condition.
That puts Mitchell’s return up against the end of the Thunder’s regular season on April 13.
He signed a two-way contract last summer after Oklahoma City took him in the second round of the NBA draft.
Two-way players are limited to 50 NBA games, are ineligible for the playoffs and spend most of their time playing in the G League.
That scenario would normally mean that Mitchell’s season is already over.
But his emergence as a key reserve should convince the Thunder to give him a regular NBA contract. He played in all 34 of the team’s games before the injury, averaging 6.4 points per game while shooting 43.1% from three-point range.
His value goes even beyond the numbers.
“I thought Ajay was providing great stability as a secondary, not only handler, but creator,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “He was creating offense for us and I thought was really gaining confidence.
“You never want to see a guy get hurt, but the timing of it was good for him because he’s got some miles underneath him now.”
Upgrading Mitchell’s contract is a no-brainer if you ask teammate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the current NBA scoring leader.
“He makes it look easy,” he said. “He takes the pressure off, if someone is pressuring me coming up the court.
“He’s obviously a great handler. He also sees the game at a very high level so I can cut back door. I generally save my energy and get freedom off the ball and he’ll find me.
“He is special, regardless of his situation and the lack of hype around him … around his name.”
Mitchell had a good shot at making the NBA’s All-Rookie team before suffering the injury. The Athletic recently rated him No. 8 among the league’s first-year players — and a sure bet to get that upgraded contract.
“The Thunder won’t want to risk restricted free agency with him this summer after he showcased that he can be a critical bench player on one of the two best teams in the league as a rookie,” The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie wrote. “The Thunder have won Mitchell’s 560 minutes this season by nearly nine points per 100 possessions, which is completely ridiculous.
“His ability to make quick, accurate decisions, shoot the ball and organize the offense has been huge.”
Daigneault knows it will take more than a bad toe to trip up Mitchell’s career.
“He’s been ridiculously professional,” he said. “He’s attacked the process. He’s done everything from the baseline standpoint that makes it easy to bet on him.”
And his odds are the kind of math I like best.
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