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If the Los Angeles Lakers want to make any moves of significance prior to the Feb. 6 trade deadline, they aren’t likely to find many takers for either Gabe Vincent or Rui Hachimura without getting something else of value attached to a deal.
On the latest episode of his YouTube show (starts at 60:20 mark), The Athletic’s Jovan Buha noted teams around the NBA consider Vincent as a “negative” value and Hachimura is at best considered a “neutral” value but no one considers him a “positive asset.”
Vincent has been a huge disappointment since signing a three-year, $33 million contract with the Lakers in July 2023. The expectation was he would give them a reliable backcourt defender and hope his shooting performance for the Miami Heat in the 2023 playoffs would stick going forward.
Instead, Vincent missed most of the 2023-24 season due to a knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery. He’s been healthy for most of this season, appearing in 39 out of 46 games, but he’s averaging just 4.9 points on 39.7 percent shooting.
Vincent is making $11 million this season and is owed $11.5 million in 2025-26.
Hachimura is unquestionably a better player than Vincent. The 26-year-old is averaging 12.4 points per game on 50.0 percent shooting (42.3 percent from three) and 5.2 rebounds in 39 starts this season, but his defense is a huge liability for a that ranks 21st in defensive rating.
The Lakers are paying Hachimura $17 million this season and $18.3 million next season. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the contracts for both Vincent and Hachimura are very attractive to teams at the trade deadline next year since they will both be on expiring deals, but that doesn’t do anything to help Los Angeles try to fix things right now.
Not having much of a market for Hachimura or Vincent is one of the reasons the Lakers are believed to be targeting smaller moves at the deadline. They don’t have much else to trade unless they want to start talking about their first-round draft picks in 2029 and 2031, which there’s no indication they are willing to do right now.
Six days out from the trade deadline, the Lakers sit in fifth place in the Western Conference with a 27-19 record. They have won seven of their last nine games, including a 117-96 victory over the Boston Celtics on Jan. 23.
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