In 2024, JJ Redick said that he wished he had a ‘roster full of Gabe Vincent.’ While his primary role remained as a bench player, Vincent was a true professional and a trusted voice in the locker room for Redick and his teammates. After a long silence before the trade deadline, the Lakers shipped Vincent to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Luke Kennard, the NBA’s best 3-point shooter.

The trade was a difficult pill to swallow in the locker room, where Vincent was widely seen as a consummate professional and a beloved teammate. A sentiment shared by both Austin Reaves and coach JJ Redick. On Thursday, the Lakers played their first game since they traded Vincent. After the game, reporters asked Reaves about the trade.

“It’s a business. But it doesn’t make it any easier to see somebody you’ve been with basically every day, for you know, almost 3 years,” Reaves said about his former teammate. “That’s exactly what he texted me this morning. “Appreciate everything you’ve done the last 2 1/2 years.”

In three years, Vincent’s most significant contribution was never in the statistics. After his trade, The Athletic’s Dan Woike reported that Vincent was one of the most respected players on the team. He prided himself on being a great teammate, and that helped the Lakers big time.

“You build real relationships. Not just him, his family, people around him. One of the best professionals I’ve ever been around, and he showed up to work every single day. Does the right thing, so you always want to see a guy like that succeed? Wishing him nothing but success,” Reaves added.

Redick’s views about his former player hadn’t changed in the two years he coached him. Vincent’s loss might not be huge on the stat sheet, but his presence in the locker room was positive for the team, and Redick openly admitted.

“His teammates loved him. His coaches loved him,” Redick said about his former player. “Really, just from a professionalism standpoint, embodied everything that was good about this game. I do think the way he finished last season, the way he started preseason, we all felt like he was gonna really have a breakout year for us here.”

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The new Hawks guard joined the Lakers in the 2023-24 season after a career year with the Miami Heat. Unfortunately, just after four games in the season, in October, Vincent suffered a knee injury that kept him out until March. He played only 11 games in his first year in Los Angeles.

“Unfortunately, just had a bunch of injuries. He’s a good player and an even better person. I’ve told Gabe this many times, we are grateful we got to work with him, and be around him. And I told him that this morning as well. We are very appreciative of him.”

Although Vincent’s exit carries an undeniable emotional toll, the front office made a pragmatic call, zeroing in on the team’s glaring need for better three-point shooting.

Did the Lakers gain by selling Gabe Vincent in the Luke Kennard trade?

Defense was the most concerning hole the Lakers were expected to address at the trade deadline. However, Rob Pelinka chose to address one of the Lakers’ 3-point shooting problems.

In addition to Vincent, the Lakers also sent a second-round pick in the 2032 NBA Draft to the Hawks for Luke Kennard. But does the trade benefit the Lakers overall?

Kennard has the best shooting percentage in the league among eligible players. He leads the league in 3-point shooting with 49.7 percent among players attempting three or more shots from beyond the arc.

For a team like the Lakers, which is among the worst 10 teams in the league in 3-point shooting, Kennard is a significant addition.

Moreover, Redick will be able to maximize his use with LeBron James and Luka Doncic, who have historically thrived with shooters outside the arc.

While Vincent was certainly not elevating the Lakers’ defense, Kennard is widely considered a terrible defender. However, upon closer inspection, the metrics tell a very different story.

This season, Vincent’s defensive rating is 123 points. However, surprisingly, Kennard has performed better with 118 points. However, it is also true that it’s hard to measure defense on the stat sheet. The Lakers will have to wait and see how they can benefit from the sharpshooter.

Furthermore, this kind of tradeoff: sacrificing a beloved locker-room leader for a player who addresses a clear statistical need is far from new in the NBA.

A striking parallel came in 2011 when the Boston Celtics traded Kendrick Perkins, their defensive anchor and one of the last remaining voices from the 2008 championship core, to Oklahoma City for Jeff Green.

Perkins was the quintessential glue guy: tough, professional, trusted by teammates, and central to Boston’s identity, even if his box-score numbers never told the full story.

The move made sense on paper. Green offered more athleticism and versatility around an aging Big Three, but many within the organization later regretted how it disrupted chemistry at a pivotal moment.

The Celtics stumbled in that year’s playoffs, while Perkins helped lead the Thunder to the 2012 Finals. The Lakers now face a similar question: Kennard’s elite shooting should immediately improve their spacing and offense, but whether the loss of Vincent’s quiet professionalism and steady presence creates a deeper void in the locker room remains to be seen.