Reflecting on the Los Angeles Lakers postseason run, Rui Hachimura was arguably the biggest bright spot. In 10 playoff games, he averaged 17.5 points on 54.9% from the field and 56.9% from 3-point range.
Hachimura stepped up in a major way with Austin Reaves missing four games and Luka Doncic sidelined with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain. Head coach JJ Redick applauded the Lakers forward’s play, given how shorthanded they were.
“He’s played great for us in these playoffs and had some great moments last year as well,” Redick said. “I’m happy for him because any time a guy that you care about is playing great basketball under the circumstances and under a lot of pressure that the playoffs bring, you feel a sense of joy for them.”
Early in Hachimura’s career, he was not regarded as a good 3-point shooter, as he hovered around league average. And Redick spoke to the journey of how he arrived at becoming an upper-echelon shooter.
“I’ve told this story before, but we were in preseason in September before my first year, kind of going through some of the guys that had been in town and were shooting the ball,” Redick said. “Beau (Levesque) is his PD coach and we were talking about Rui and having the discussion about whether or not the 3-point shooting was real because he hadn’t been that in Washington and had a couple good stretches with the Lakers, was coming off a 40-plus-percent season. I’m not gonna name names, but there’s some coaches that didn’t believe in the shooting.
“We all clearly believe in the shooting now. He’s a true laser and I think he’s just been, we talked this series, we talked in the Houston series, the decisiveness. I think he’s done a great job just being decisive knowing when to attack closeouts and when to shoot.”
Hachimura clearly worked diligently on his shooting because he was not viewed as an on-ball creator with LeBron James, Austin Reaves and Anthony Davis there at the time when he got traded to the Lakers. He loved his post touches and operating in the mid-range, but he modernized his game by extending it past the 3-point line.
With free agency looming, teams will try to pry him away from Los Angeles due to his newly adapted playstyle of a high-caliber shooting wing. With a substantial sample size this year and playoff production, it makes sense to retain Hachimura as he fits with what L.A. is building.
Rui Hachimura has not thought about free agency yet
The Lakers will potentially have up to eight free agents and Hachimura is arguably the third-most important behind LeBron James and Austin Reaves. With free agency kicking off in about a month, Hachimura admitted that he has not yet thought about it and will leave those discussions to his agent.
If you love our reporting, choose LakersNation.com as a preferred source on Google.
