The Los Angeles Lakers got both LeBron James and Rui Hachimura back in the lineup on Saturday night in their blowout loss to the Chicago Bulls.
Both guys naturally looked a little rusty considering they have missed a couple weeks of action, but for Hachimura, it may have been more than just rust. JJ Redick said before the game that Hachimura would be on a minutes restriction and in 18 minutes of action, he had five points and two rebounds on 2-of-6 shooting.
After the game, Hachimura revealed that he returned from his left patellar tendinopathy despite his knee not feeling 100% healthy.
“I was like 70-80%. My knee is gonna be like that for a while I think,” Hachimura said. “I can’t really get back to 100% right away. I gotta rest for like a long time to get back to normal. But I don’t think we have that, so we just gotta maintain and manage it.”
Hachimura elaborated on the pain he was dealing with while he was on the court.
“It’s just everything,” he said. “This is one of those where whatever you do, jump, stop, slide, everything is gonna feel it. My left leg has got to be stronger, still don’t have the explosion. That’s gonna be the key for me, just getting stronger. All the movements, just everything going on, I can feel it. So I have to kind of manage it and play through it.”
This is obviously not great news as time is not on the Lakers’ side with only 12 regular season games remaining before what they are hoping is a long playoff run.
If Hachimura is either out or playing compromised then that is a huge piece of the Lakers’ puzzle that they will be without. Hopefully he can find a way to manage it, but it seems the Lakers will have to rely on other players more for the time being.
Rui Hachimura left Lakers to get treatment on knee
Rui Hachimura revealed that he left the Lakers for a short period of time while he was out in order to get the proper treatment on his knee.
“I’ve just been getting treatment. I stepped away from the team too for a little bit to focus on the treatment. That was my focus, to get healthy and get back on the court. That’s what I was doing for three weeks.”
Given Hachimura’s comments, his status will be worth monitoring moving forward as the knee injury is clearly not fully behind him.
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