The Los Angeles Lakers underwent a roster overhaul this summer, parting with six of the 10 minutes per game leaders and replacing them with talent that is younger and, in their view, better fitting around Luka Doncic. One of the players the Lakers let go was Rui Hachimura, who they effectively replaced with Sandro Mamukelashvili on a four-year, $52 million deal.
Hachimura, in turn, signed a team-friendly two-year, $28 million contract to stay home and play for the L.A. Clippers. He joins a roster firmly in flux, awaiting the results of the Kawhi Leonard trade. However, the Clippers are building an interesting young team that should give Hachimura greater opportunity and the ability to stay in L.A. He expressed his reasonings for choosing the Clippers, via Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints:
“Above all, being able to stay in LA is the best outcome for me,” Hachimura added. “They support their players of course, their families and inner circles from what I hear. Plus they have a brand new arena with advanced physical and medical support and all kinds of useful tools for physical training. I’m really looking forward to all of it.
“My top priority was winning. The roster construction, the team organization, and their style of play altogether, the Clippers felt like they gave me the best opportunity. Plus, like I keep saying, playing with a team of younger players is a first for me since my time with the Wizards. I’ve always played on roster with veterans, so having this experience is going to be a lot of fun.
“It’s a young team and while the roster itself is young, the organization is relatively young here, too. They only moved to L.A. a few decades ago, so I want to help them build and shape that L.A. culture.”
Hachimura likely could have taken smaller deals elsewhere around the league, especially after his top-tier shooting performance in the 2026 NBA Playoffs.
However, the Clippers have some intrigue. Should the Leonard trade go through, they’ll have All-Stars Darius Garland and Brandon Ingram leading the way, the No. 5 overall pick in 2026 with Keaton Wagler, a veteran and young center tandem in Brook Lopez and Yanic Konan Niederhauser, and some athletes in Derrick Jones Jr. and Kris Dunn.
Hachimura slots in very well alongside that group as an elite shooter that doesn’t need the ball in his hands to make an impact.
LeBron James felt Lakers were ready to move on
While this hasn’t been explicitly said, it’s possible that Hachimura would have stayed a Laker if the team wanted to keep him. But they were clearly looking to start fresh around Doncic, and it’s a feeling that LeBron James got as well before deciding to move on.
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