Gabe Vincent is finally back with the Lakers, but there's a catch

After the first four games of the season, the LA Lakers point guardb got injured and has been out since then except Wednesday's night game against the Chicago Bulls where the PG saw some action with a limited number of minutes.

Vincent played 14 minutes in the Lakers’ loss to the Chicago Bulls, finishing with three points and three assists. But with the Lakers on a back-to-back, heading to Minnesota to face the Minnesota Timberwolves, head coach Darvin Ham and the coaching staff chose to sit Vincent out. And this was something that had already been decided ahead of time.

“That’s one of those things where you just have to be careful,” Ham said pregame of Vincent. “There’s gonna be boundaries and parameters when you try to reintegrate someone that’s been gone that long. It was the same with [Jarred Vanderbilt]). And not playing in a back-to-back is something that was decided beforehand.”

This is the way to go for the Lakers and is in line with what Ham has done with other players as they return from injury. The team doesn’t want to put too much on these players too early and incur a setback that could see them back on the sideline for an even longer period and the Lakers see Vincent as a key piece to their success moving forward.

Rui Hachimura's name has been in the trade rumors, the reasons why he needs to stay

Rui Hachimura was a big reason for the Lakers being able to turn things around last season, still, for this campaign, many rumors and reports have him as a potential trading asset for the team. Hachimura needs to stay and have a bigger role with the team, needs more plays specific for him, needs to be playing more with LeBron James, and finally, needs to be posting up smaller defenders.