Rui Hachimura is ready to hit a very powerful a part of securing his price as a participant on this league by changing into a restricted free agent, and he can solely do what’s greatest and appropriate for his profession.
As he appeared on ESPN’s “Hoop Streams” earlier than Recreation 4 of the 2023 NBA Finals this Friday, Hachimura detailed how he liked spending the second-half of 2022-23 with the Los Angeles Lakers given their stable playoff run, however he supplied some cryptic phrases for his subsequent contract coming.
“The explanation why I requested the commerce [out of the Washington Wizards] is that I wished to be someplace I might be comfortable and play basketball, that enjoyed me as a basketball participant, that believed in me, and the Lakers had been one of many groups that was actually fascinated about me,” he mentioned (h/t SB Nation’s Harrison Faigen). “My agent and the workforce did a very good job, and I went to the Lakers and it was a loopy season for me… Again at the moment, we didn’t even know we had been going to make the playoffs. So we made the playoffs and the playoff run was fairly good, we misplaced to Denver nevertheless it was fairly good for us.
“I don’t know my future however I simply wish to be someplace I may be comfortable. The Lakers have been good and we’re going to see.”
Following a fruitful postseason journey with L.A. this yr, Hachimura enchanted the whole Lakers fandom along with his scoring, reliability and potential that he holds. He averaged 12.2 boards and three.6 boards in 16 playoff video games for Los Angeles and got here up huge with some essential moments for the workforce all through the run.
Sources already indicated that the Lakers are totally dedicated to retain him and Austin Reaves heading to this offseason. With groups additionally went enticed of how he carried out with the purple and gold, a bidding battle may happen because the gates of the market lastly opens.
