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Dave McMenamin
LOS ANGELES — Using Friday’s preseason finale as a “dress rehearsal” for next week’s regular-season opener, Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick put Gabe Vincent in the starting lineup to fill in for the injured LeBron James.
Vincent capped a strong individual training camp with 14 points on 5-for-6 shooting (4-for-5 from 3), but the Lakers lost 117-116 to the Sacramento Kings to finish the preseason 1-5.
The regular season starts Tuesday night when L.A. hosts the Golden State Warriors. While the Vincent decision was made, there is plenty more for the Lakers to figure out in the next few days.
“We have two more practices, so we need to clean up some things,” said Luka Doncic, who scored a game-high 31 points to go with nine assists in 33 minutes.
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Vincent said the coaching staff informed him about the starting nod Friday morning. If the staff was on the fence about the choice, Vincent certainly helped his cause in the Lakers’ preseason game against the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday when he scored 18 points in the first four minutes, going 5-for-5 from 3.
“I think I just bring what I’ve been doing since I’ve been here,” Vincent said when asked about his fit with the starters. “Just defending, try to defend at a high level. Playmake when I have opportunities, space the floor while Luka and [Austin Reaves] are creating themselves.”
James is not expected to return to the lineup and play until mid-November, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania, as he continues to recover from sciatica affecting the right side of his body.
While Vincent will join Doncic, Reaves, Deandre Ayton and Rui Hachimura on the court to tip off the 2025-26 season, Redick made it clear that the current starters are not permanent.
“I don’t know anything about who I’m going to be starting the rest of the season, because, again, there’s injuries, and there’s things that happen throughout a year,” Redick said. “I have a pretty good idea who’s going to start Game 1, after that, I don’t know. But I do think in that lineup there’s lot of shooting around Luka and DA and Gabe is another ball handler, another tough defender.
“I think he fits in well, but you have to take a look at every matchup we play against and have to make a decision there.”
Redick has downplayed the weight of his starters decision repeatedly during training camp, pointing out that he used 25 different starting lineups last season.
Redick and his team sounded far more concerned about their defense after allowing 59 second-half points to a Kings team that shot 54.7% overall and 44.8% from 3.
“I think in practice we were more physical,” Doncic said. “We need to work on our physicality.”
The Lakers were without one of their more physical defenders in center Jaxson Hayes for the second half Friday. He left the game with a right wrist contusion after finishing a lob dunk in the first quarter. Redick said X-rays on Hayes’ wrist were negative, and the team would have a further update on Hayes when they practice Sunday.
Former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, who had 14 points and four steals off the bench against Sacramento, vowed to help the physicality in the meantime.
“Just follow my lead,” Smart said. “That’s really it. I’m going to try to set the tone each and every night. And just kind of piggyback off me.”
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