If it wasn’t clear before the Lakers made their flurry of moves on Wednesday morning, then it certainly is now.
Rui Hachimura will not be a Laker next season.
The writing was on the wall coming into free agency and Wednesday’s moves effectively made it impossible for the team to bring back Hachimura. The trade for Walker Kessler paired with the signings of Sandro Mamukelashvili, Quentin Grimes and Collin Sexton exhausted all of the Lakers’ spending power.
To make those deals official, the Lakers will
have to renounce all their cap holds, which includes Hachimura’s. In doing so, it means the team can no longer go over the cap to sign him. And with no spending power and no ability to go over the cap, it means Hachimura won’t be in LA.
Even before Wednesday, the assumption from most was that Hachimura wouldn’t be back.
In their latest Substack piece late Tuesday night, Jake Fischer and Marc Stein called it “increasingly likely” Rui will leave the Lakers this summer.
Lakers free agent Rui Hachimura, Clippers free agent John Collins and Pistons free agent Tobias Harris are also known to be on San Antonio’s list. Hachimura, for that matter, is also believed to still be drawing interest from Brooklyn and Detroit and is regarded as increasingly likely to join James. Smart and Phoenix-bound Luke Kennard out the exit door in Lakerland.
Similarly, on his newest podcast episode on Wednesday morning, Zach Lowe made a passing comment that he believes Rui will be playing elsewhere next season.
“The Lakers now have a lot of cap space and how they use it is going to be very interesting and Luka Dončić is going to be watching it very carefully. Rui Hachimura is a free agent. I think he’s going to be on another team next year.”
All of that also aligns with reporting prior to the start of free agency. Dave McMenamin of ESPN said that Rui would likely be the “odd man out” for the Lakers and would have to find his deal somewhere else.
Having said all that, it’s unclear where he would go. Before free agency, reports linked him to the Nets and the Spurs. There were also some links to the Pistons, but their signing of John Collins on Wednesday morning almost certainly takes them out of that running.
The aforementioned Fischer and Stein report was about the Spurs, so he’s still on that list. However, that same report also said that San Antonio isn’t looking to give out more than a two-year deal on forwards this summer.
Free agency is a very fluid situation with lots of bluffing and negotiating, so things can change quickly. But barring some drastic late change, Rui’s time in LA is finished.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
