Gabe Vincent looking to put knee injury behind him to help struggling Heat bench

Miami Heat guard Gabe Vincent was hoping he would be able to play through the pain.

So Vincent, 26, missed three games with a swollen left knee before returning to play in the Heat’s win against the Washington Wizards on Nov. 23. Vincent then went on to miss the next two games because of his knee issue before coming back to play in three straight games — the Heat’s Nov. 30 loss to the Boston Celtics, Dec. 2 win over the Celtics and Dec. 5 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

But after Vincent totaled just 15 points on 6-of-24 (25 percent) shooting from the field and 3-of-17 (17.6 percent) shooting from three-point range in those four games while he battled through the injury, the Heat and Vincent made the joint decision that an extended break to rest the troublesome knee was needed. So Vincent missed eight consecutive games during a two-week span in hopes of putting the issue behind him, eventually making his return to be available for Friday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers.

“I think as a young player, on a quote, unquote, rookie contact, you try to be on the court as much as possible and take every opportunity you can,” Vincent said ahead the Heat’s matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night at FTX Arena. “But I think it had just gotten to a point where I couldn’t fully be myself, and I couldn’t fully give the team what they needed out of me, so we came together and made a decision on what we thought would be best.”

Vincent, who is playing for his next contract as an impending 2023 free agent, did not play in his first game back on Friday despite being in uniform and available. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said with so much uncertainty surrounding the status of a few questionable players entering the contest, including Vincent, he didn’t have enough time to fully think out the rotation because of all the moving parts.

But Spoelstra was also able to appreciate that Vincent was able to make himself available after spending the past few weeks working behind the scenes to rehab his knee. Vincent didn’t travel with the Heat on its recent four-game trip in part because he said “the flights had given me some issues.”

“Those are things that if you’re not moving well and you have some kind of ailment, it can get worse,” Spoelstra said. “We all met about it and we wanted to take care of it right where it was. Thankfully it didn’t need any kind of procedure or anything. It just needed rest and then a ramp up. He’s passed every test to get to this point and we just want to keep him feeling good.”

While Vincent played in each of the Heat’s first 15 games this season in a reserve role before initially missing time because of his knee injury, he comes back to a new bench mix that now includes guard Victor Oladipo, who recently returned after missing the first 24 games of the season because of left knee tendinosis. Whether there’s room for consistent minutes for Vincent and Oladipo in the bench rotation remains to be seen.

Vincent entered Monday averaging 8.8 points while shooting 39 percent from the field and 29.7 percent from three-point range, 2.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists this season. While the three-point shooting will need to improve for Vincent to get consistent playing time, perimeter on-ball defense has also become an important part of his skill set that the Heat values off the bench.

Miami’s bench needs a spark, too. The Heat’s reserves entered Monday averaging the second-fewest points in the NBA at 25.8 per game and with the sixth-worst combined plus/minus at minus-50 this season.

“It’s hard to not be present,” Vincent said of his two-week absence. “But it’s hard to see something that you can help and not being able to help. I think that applies to every aspect of life. When you feel like you can help a situation but you’re not able to, it’s difficult.”

Now that Vincent is back, he doesn’t plan on wearing a knee brace. He hopes the injury is in the past so he can help the Heat get back on track in the coming weeks.

“It’s tough to try to stay mentally locked in on everything going on, to focus on yourself and get healthy because that’s the best way you can help your team at that point in time,” Vincent said. “But you have to keep in mind the big picture. Like I’ve mentioned before, it’s hard to play one game and sit two or three. It doesn’t help the team the best way. It doesn’t help yourself the best way. So you try to keep that in mind and fight your better nature of when to compete and make sure that you’re good for the long run. So the time [away] was necessary, it was needed.”