This season has been a challenging one for Los Angeles Lakers forward Rui Hachimura due to injuries. After re-signing with the Lakers in the offseason on a lucrative contract, there were high hopes for Hachimura going into this season.
Unfortunately though, Hachimura has only played in 26 of the Lakers’ first 40 games, missing time with a concussion, a nasal fracture and most recently a left calf strain.
The calf strain kept Hachimura out of five games although he was able to return in Saturday night’s game against the Utah Jazz. Hachimura was on a minutes restriction so only 19 minutes but still looked solid, scoring 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting to go along with three rebounds, one assist and one steal.
After the game, Hachimura discussed how he felt physically in his return to action, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:
“I’m a little bit out of shape right now. I was able to run up and down and make some plays, but it was a tough loss for us. Obviously they’re a good team, and we just couldn’t stop them.”
Hachimura was very aggressive offensively looking to score, which he said was a focus for him:
“Just coming off the bench and being aggressive on both ends. Offensively, attacking the rim. Defensively, guarding 1-5, whatever, getting rebounds, those kind of things.”
Even though the Lakers would go on to suffer the loss, it was good to see Hachimura back healthy and contributing. Additionally, he was no longer playing with the mask that he had to wear for his broken nose that he previously admitted was bugging him:
“I think they told me six weeks, so that’s why I just took it off. But yeah, my nose is fine.”
Hachimura’s size and physicality cannot really be matched on this Lakers roster, so him being healthy and producing off the bench is a huge positive of this team moving forward.
Injuries have hampered the team all season long, but it seems that guys are finally starting to get healthy so hopefully that will lead to more wins.
Lakers’ Rui Hachimura taking motivation from Shohei Ohtani’s contract with Dodgers
L.A. is becoming a city of Japanese sports stars as both Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are joining Hachimura in town after signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Hachimura has a relationship with Ohtani, and he recently talked about the motivation he is taking from his fellow countryman signing a record-breaking contract with the Dodgers.
“I’m proud of being Japanese as an athlete, came from there, grew up and came here to the U.S. to be in the NBA, the top league in the world,” Hachimura told the L.A. Times. “It’s different sports, but I’m in one of the biggest organizations in the world. The Lakers. And also him as well. Baseball. Top league. Dodgers one of the biggest organizations. As a Japanese, I’m really proud of him and happy for him. He actually motivated me.”
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