LeBron James in disbelief over Gabe Vincent’s outburst against the Mavericks

The Los Angeles Lakersfor their preseason matchup Wednesday night against the Dallas Mavericks at T-Mobile Arena, they were without key contributors like Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and Deandre Ayton, to name a few. LeBron James also remains out as he continues to deal with sciatica. But The Lakers don’t have to worry, because they have Gabe Vincent — someone who always seems to step up whenever he’s on a team where he’s underachieved (or talented).

Vincent took on the number one option role with aplomb on Wednesday night as he started to battle it out hot from the pitch. In the first five minutes of the game, he was already up to 18 points, making five of six three-point attempts and nailing all three shots from the charity stripe.

This scoring outburst caused a big reaction from James, with the star of the Lakers expressing his astonishment because of Vincent’s hot shot on his official account on X (formerly Twitter).

“GV crazy now!!! Sheesh 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥,” James wrote.

The craziest thing about Vincent’s scoring outburst was that he didn’t just shoot wide open. He was pulling away from about two steps behind the three-point arc, and he was doing so even with Cooper Flagg draped over him.

GABE VINCENT IS ON FIRE 🔥

He starts 5-5 from the outside and has 18 points in just 5 minutes on ESPN 🤯 pic.twitter.com/ImbrFKkkco

— NBA (@NBA) October 16, 2025

This was the version of Vincent the Lakers envisioned they would get when they signed him in 2023. Vincent struggled a lot in his first year in LA and was injured for a good portion of that campaign, and his stock was at a massive low after the ’23-’24 campaign.

But Vincent proved to be a reliable 3-point and D piece for the Lakers last season, and looks set to continue to thrive alongside LA’s more-used stars.

Are the Lakers too tough?

The The Lakers will and should trade Doncic ten times out of ten and twice a week. But trading Anthony Davis for Doncic would make their roster incredibly unbalanced, and at this point, the Lakers’ roster still appears to be struggling, especially after losing Dorian Finney-Smith in free agency.

Doncic, Reaves and James are incredible ball handlers and shot creators in their own right. Then they added Marcus Smart, another playmaker, even though they already had Vincent, a 3-and-D guard, on the roster.

The Lakers don’t have much in the way of two-way wings, as they don’t have much depth behind Rui Hachimura and Jared Vanderbilt.

Another trade could be in the cards for purple and gold.