Rui Hachimura’s talent is undeniable.
He’s an elite shooter who is converting on 43.9% of his 3-point attempts on the season, making him the best perimeter threat on the Lakers. Recently, though, he’s been struggling.
His calf injury forced him to miss seven straight games and upon his return, his production dipped. Hachimura averaged just 7.8 points while making 31.3% of his 3-point shots in his first four games back.
But during LA’s recent road trip, he’s begun to take a turn for the better.
He had
back-to-back threes late in the fourth in a win against Dallas and in Chicago, Hachimura shot lights out, going 9-11 from the field, scoring 23 points in his 29 minutes of play.
After the win, Lakers head coach JJ Redick acknowledged Hachimura’s return to form.
“Rui, now, feels like…he’s kind of back in his groove,” Redick said. “He had not taken a ton of shots and I don’t think was playing well – and I told them him that so I’m not trying to call him out – but he wasn’t playing well leading into his injury and then it takes a little bit of time to get back in that rhythm. It feels like the last few games, he’s back to who he was at the start of the year.
“I think his defensive engagement, particularly the last two games because in Dallas he had a great defensive game on tape as a low man and again another good one tonight.”
Hachimura was always going to regress to the mean. During his four seasons with the Lakers, he’s been a consistent double-digit scorer, so a handful of subpar games after an injury shouldn’t have been cause for panic.
However, as Redick mentioned, Hachimura was playing poorly even before his injury. Also, now he appears to have been moved to the bench. A change like that can be misinterpreted and significantly impact how a player performs.
Hachimura playing this well while coming off the bench demonstrates that he is embracing his sixth man role and will continue to play his best. And his experience in the NBA has helped him remain level-headed through all of it.
“This is my seventh season and the NBA season is so long,” Hachimura said. “It’s up and down. I always tell myself to stay calm and do what you’ve got to do. That’s all you can do, control what you can do. For me to do this kind of stuff, it’s normal.”
With Hachimura looking like his old self, the Lakers have their best shooter back. And if he continues to excel as a reserve player, he should also give the bench an offensive injection they desperately need.
LA averages 26.2 bench points per game, which is the lowest scoring average in the NBA.
Hachimura might not be the most important Laker, but he’s a key player in the rotation. And if he stays playing at this level, it raises the ceiling on how good the Lakers can be.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
