During a recent episode of The Zach Lowe Show, Zach Lowe of The Ringer and Sam Amick of The Athletic walked through a number of veterans who could be potential extension candidates this season, including
Lakers forward Rui Hachimura.
Amick said he didn’t expect the Lakers to extend Hachimura because they want to maintain long-term financial flexibility, which could put them in play for a max free agent in either 2026 or 2027. Lowe concurred, but he added that he expected “some discussions” about an extension because Hachimura is “an interesting candidate” for one.
“I think Rui Hachimura’s good,” Lowe added. “I think he’s actually underrated. When I hear the discussions about ‘Who would come off the bench if they decide to sign Marcus Smart?’, he’s the de facto answer. And I get that, because it’s not gonna be [Deandre] Ayton, you’re not gonna start small. And it’s not gonna be any of LeBron [James], Luka [Dončić], and [Austin] Reaves, it’s politically probably difficult for that to happen. I’m just like, I don’t know that the answer to any problems that the Lakers might have is like less of a 40%-ish three-point shooter with some one-on-one skills and defensive versatility playing around the star players.”
Lowe did say that, unlike Austin Reaves, whom the Lakers never had a realistic chance of extending this offseason, Hachimura is eligible for enough money to “pique his interest.” The question is whether the Lakers are willing to offer him that type of payday before he becomes a free agent next offseason.
Hachimura is set to earn roughly $18.25 million this coming season, which is the final year of his current contract. The NBA’s latest collective bargaining agreement increased the amount of money that teams can offer players in extensions, going from 120% of their previous salary in the last CBA to 140% of their previous salary now. That means Hachimura’s extension could start as high as $27.6 million and then increase 8% annually from there.
Here’s the absolute most that the Lakers could offer Hachimura, along with the projected amount of salary-cap space he’d take up each year based on current cap estimates. The cap-percentage projections are very much subject to change, though. Think of them more as ballpark figures rather than exact amounts.
2026-27: $27,608,000 (16.6%)
2027-28: $29,653,037 (17.0%)
2028-29: $31,698,074 (17.3%)
2029-30: $33,743,111 (17.5%)
Total: $114,522,072
That $27.6 million cap hit would put Hachimura right between Draymond Green ($27.7 million) and Trey Murphy III ($27.0 million) in the 2026-27 campaign. He’d be slightly ahead of Jaden McDaniels ($26.2 million), who will be heading into the third year of his five-year, $131.0 million extension in 2026-27. De’Andre Hunter ($24.9 million), Jabari Smith Jr. ($23.6 million), Naz Reid ($23.3 million) and Cam Johnson ($23.1 million) are all roughly in that ballpark as well.
Granted, the Lakers don’t have to offer Hachimura his full max extension amount. They might look at the four-year, $88.8 million extension that P.J. Washington recently signed with the Dallas Mavericks as a template to emulate. Washington is only projected to take up 12-13% of the Mavericks’ cap space over the span of the deal rather than 16-17%.
Since Hachimura is heading into the last year of his contract, he’ll be eligible to sign an extension any time between now and June 30. With that in mind, the Lakers likely aren’t in any rush to extend him. They can see how the season unfolds before making a long-term commitment to him.
Earlier this offseason, the Lakers were being fiercely protective of their long-term cap space as they began looking ahead to the Dončić-led era. However, Dan Woike of The Athletic recently wrote that the Lakers “had resisted scenarios in which the team would take on contracts that lasted beyond the 2025-26 season earlier this summer,” but Dončić signing a three-year max extension with them “has nudged L.A.’s priorities in more aggressive directions.”
Both Woike and longtime NBA reporter Marc Stein mentioned that more in the context of trades/external additions. It’s less clear whether they’d be willing to cut into their future cap space to extend someone who’s already on the roster.
If the Lakers don’t sign Hachimura to an extension by June 30, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent next summer. More than a half-dozen teams are currently projected to have cap space next offseason, so they could be at risk of losing him for nothing, although they’ll maintain his Bird rights. Those allow the Lakers to re-sign Hachimura even if they’re over the salary cap and to offer 8% annual raises rather than the 5% yearly raises that other teams are limited to. The Lakers could also offer him a five-year deal if he reaches free agency, while other teams can only offer four at most.
An extension for Hachimura does not appear to be imminent. But if he balls out this year, the Lakers might be tempted to extend him before he can test free agency next summer.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Salary Swish and salary-cap information via RealGM.
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