Opinions continue to swirl about the Los Angeles Lakers’ decision to pivot away from a few veteran stars in the offseason.
While the Lakers revamped the roster around Luka Doncic, some argue that not every addition is truly better than the players who departed the team in free agency.
It might take a little while for Lakers Nation to forget Rui Hachimura, the charismatic, sharpshooting forward who became a fan-favorite in his 3 ½ seasons with the franchise. What made fans feel worse about losing Hachimura in free agency was his decision to join the cross-town rival Clippers. But no one is bashing Hachimura for leaving one L.A. team and joining the other; fans are critical of the Lakers deciding not to retain him, especially after he lit it up over two playoff series last spring.
Why Didn’t the Lakers Bring Back Rui Hachimura?
Considering Hachimura is only 28 — roughly the age of multiple Lakers additions this offseason — and signed a modest two-year, $28 million deal with the Clippers, something isn’t adding up about the Lakers’ decision to let Hachimura walk in free agency.
When asked about players who are no longer Lakers like Deandre Ayton, Jaxson Hayes and Hachimura, reporter Jovan Buha explained where the disconnect was between these players and the team.
“Lack of dog with Ayton, yeah,” Buha began. “Rui, I don’t know if it’s lack of dog necessarily. I think it’s more so … Rui can be a little spacy sometimes. He’s not the most detail-oriented sometimes I would say. Sometimes the decision-making, processing wasn’t quite where they wanted. That’s, I think, a couple times when (head coach) JJ (Redick) blew up on him.”
Continued Buha: “Rui and Jaxson, some of the inconsistencies, some of the decision-making could be frustrating. (But) Rui was never benched. He was constantly in the rotation.”
For some, even if Hachimura’s focus came and went, he was worth the $28 million he got from the Clippers. After all, we are talking about one of the greatest 3-point shooters in NBA playoff history and someone who routinely cashes 40 percent of his 3s in his sleep.
The Lakers replaced Hachimura with players like Quentin Grimes and Sandro Mamukelashvili, two players who were paid north of $50 million each this offseason. Think Grimes and Mamukelashvili are better than Hachimura? Fine. But are they worth twice the dollars? Probably not.
Hachimura Reflects On Last 3 ½ Seasons
Even though it might seem he left on bad terms, Hachimura appears to be content with how his Lakers tenure ended. During Clippers media day this week, the 28-year-old swingman looked back on his time with the purple-and-gold.
“It was a great three or four seasons with the Lakers,” Hachimura expressed, according to Clippers reporter Farbod Esnaashari. “I had a great time, they took really good care of me. It was time to move on, I’m happy that I’m here with the Clippers. One of the best organizations to have this arena, coaches, trainers, everybody.”
Despite Doncic’s request to keep Hachimura, the Lakers didn’t push to bring back the veteran forward in free agency. Hachimura will always be remembered for his time as a Laker and someone who was particularly impactful over the LeBron James-Anthony Davis era.
Lakers Reason for Rejecting Rui Hachimura Revealed by Top Insider