Gabe Vincent

Gabriel Nnamdi Vincent (born June 14, 1996) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Nigerian national basketball team. He played college basketball for the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. Undrafted out of college, Vincent signed with the Stockton Kings of the NBA G League before joining the Miami Heat on a two-way contract. With Miami, he reached the NBA Finals in 2020 and 2023 before signing with the Lakers.

Early life
Vincent was born in Modesto, California, to Franklyn and Cynthia Vincent. His father is Nigerian and his mother is American from Connecticut. They both earned doctorates in psychology. The youngest of three brothers, Vincent attended St. Mary's High School in Stockton.

College career
Vincent played college basketball for University of California, Santa Barbara from 2014 to 2018, averaging 12.8 points in 113 games for the team. After his senior season, he was named to the 2018 All-Big West Second Team.

Stockton Kings (2018–2020)
After graduating, Vincent had a pre-draft workout with the Sacramento Kings. Although he went undrafted in the 2018 NBA draft, he signed an Exhibit 10 contract with Sacramento on October 2. He was waived a few days later. He played 24 games, with three starts, for the Stockton Kings of the G League during the 2018–19 season, averaging 8.8 points in 18.6 minutes per game. He scored 35 points in a game twice for the Kings in December 2019. Vincent played in 20 games (three starts) in his second season with Stockton while averaging 23.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.30 steals per game and shooting 46.9 percent from the field, 41.2 percent from three-point range and 89.7 percent from the free throw line.

Miami Heat (2020–2023)
On January 8, 2020, the Miami Heat announced that they had signed Vincent to a two-way contract. He made his NBA debut against the Orlando Magic on January 29. In the G League, Vincent tallied 27 points, three assists and one rebound in a win over the Salt Lake City Stars on February 3. He averaged 20.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in 31 G League games. On June 22, 2020, the NBA G League announced that Vincent won the Most Improved Player award. The Heat reached the 2020 NBA Finals, but lost in 6 games to the Los Angeles Lakers.

On August 1, 2021, Vincent joined the Heat for the NBA Summer League and five days later, he signed a standard contract with the Heat.

In Game 3 of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, Vincent scored a playoff career high of 29 points in a 128–102 win to give the Heat a 3–0 lead over the Boston Celtics. The Heat eventually advanced to the NBA Finals after winning the series in seven games. In Game 2 of the 2023 NBA Finals, Vincent had a team-high 23 points in a 111–108 win over the Denver Nuggets to tie the series 1-1. Vincent struggled to shoot from the 3 point line in the NBA Finals, shooting just 33% from beyond the arc. The Heat went on to lose the series in five games.

Los Angeles Lakers (2023–present)
On July 6, 2023, Vincent signed with the Los Angeles Lakers.

National team career
Vincent represents the Nigerian national team, D'Tigers. On August 24, 2019, he scored 23 points against Poland, including the game-winning three-pointer with 0.3 seconds left in the game. He represented the Nigerian team at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in China.