Rui's Rise: A Regrettable Relocation

“I DON’T KNOW…”

—       Rui Hachimura (Jan. 22, 2023)

Rui Hachimura: side-by-side Wizards/Lakers

“With the ninth pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, the Washington Wizards select Rui Hachimura from Toyama, Japan.” These were the words: the words from commissioner, Adam Silver, officially introducing the newly profound hybrid wing in Rui Hachimura, the words that had a beginning of a journey, the words that changed things…forever. As Hachimura walks down the long and awaited aisle to start his new journey representing not just himself, his family, and Japan (as the first ever first round draft pick from Japan in NBA history), but the Washington Wizards — a franchise in desperate times needing young talent, and a boost in their everlasting rebuild venture. As Hachimura shakes Silver’s hand and gracefully wears his deserved Wizards snapback, everything seems okay…and not just okay, but as great as it can possibly be, right?

                  Hachimura is listed as a 6’8, 230-pound hybrid power-forward and small-forward. In just his first season as a Washington Wizard, Hachimura averaged 13.5 points per game with 6.1 total rebounds per game on 46.6 percent from the field. Pretty good numbers for a twenty-one-year-old rookie. In Hachimura’s sophomore season, things gradually improved for his short stint as a Wizard, raising his averages and becoming a better outside shooter. Additionally, throughout his second season as a Wizard, Hachimura’s Wizards finished with a 34-38 record, just good enough to award them in the newly announced Play-In Tournament. And boy oh boy, Hachimura did not disappoint — he averaged 14.8 points per game, 7.2 total rebounds per game on 61.7 percent from the field and 60.0 percent from three on three three-point attempts per game. The evidence of a great role player where in front of the naked eye — the eye of the fans of the NBA, the eyes of his teammates, and the eyes of the Wizards staff personnel. In his first two seasons a Wizard, Hachimura played a combined one hundred five games and started in all the one hundred five games. Then something happened — something that altered Hachimura’s love for the game, happiness, personal commitment, and the yearn to play for an organization that once drafted him with open arms.

                  To dive into the blunder and misstep, we must understand that almost all these types of scenarios are a two-sided story (if not more). Well, this side of the story is going to present a case of severe irony that might be amusing at first glance but distancing and depriving at second glance. This side of the story includes Los Angeles Lakers General Manager, Robert Todd Pelinka Jr. After his Los Angeles Lakers just suffered a magnitude of immense expectations and noise from the exterior societal world, the interior was crumbling into desperation. Throughout the entirety of the 2020-21 season, the Lakers were dealt a hand that…let’s just say, not just favorable by the basketball G-ds. After coming off a championship in the infamous ‘bubble,’ everyone was hit with the injury crisis. LeBron James played a measly forty-five games that season, and Anthony Davis played an even more measly thirty-six games that season. They just finished the regular season with a 42-20 record, enough for just the pity seventh seed out in the “wild, wild West” alluded to by James just under a week ago during his post-game press interview. James had limped to the playoffs with the infamous severe ankle injury sustain by non-other than Soloman Hill. During this time, the Lakers matched up with the Pheonix Suns after scrapping by the feisty Warriors team in the Play-In. As the series started, the Lakers were on a roll, to say the least. They took a quality two games to one lead over the Suns in a best of seven series in the first round, looking like an unstoppable juggernaut waiting to prance to the second round. However, every great story must have its antagonist, right? Well, in this story, the antagonist isn’t a who, rather a what. What is the what, you might ask — injuries. The greatest enemy and fear of every professional athlete in any professional sport — NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, etc.

It ruins careers, seasons, and dreams, and the 2020-21 Lakers were going to be no different. As James turns the ball over during game three of a tied one-to-one series, Davis, being the impeccable defensive player he is, sprints like a mad man, going for a carbon copy lookalike of the ‘chase down block,’ pinning Devin Booker’s layup off the backboard. Unfortunately, as he lands, he grimaces in pain, grabbing his left knee and hamstring area. As everything looks like it might be okay due to Davis walking the apparent injury off on his own, the truth lingered behind our minds — it was not going to be okay. And to no one’s surprise, he reinjures himself in that same series, leaving to his eventual exit and demise for his team. The Lakers ended up losing a series that they had control of what some might say…the inevitable.

And just like that…as the famous onomatopoeia terminology goes — poof! Almost in a Thanos-esque snap of fingers, the Lakers season was over. Their titles dreams were over. Their dreams of repeating were over. All the pressure seeps into one man – Rob Pelinka. What was he going to do to fix this? After all, it was Pelinka who ‘destroyed’ and ‘dismantled’ the 2020 championship roster, right? So, he does what any other General Manager of a contender would do: go back to his office, ponder what went right and wrong, and what the near-future holds. Then he makes the trade for alleged superstar guard, Russell Westbrook. Now, I refuse to go into any more detail of the Westbrook trade head case, partially because I went into detail in my previous article and partially because I do not want to relive the memories of pain and disgruntle. That said, long story short, Pelinka was desperate for younger talent after assembling the oldest roster in NBA history, and he was looking for a particular positional need — the wing position. The most coveted and valuable position, maybe in NBA history outside of the historic centers E.g. the Wilt Chamberlains, Bill Russells, Kareem Abdul-Jabbars of the world. But a question to ponder, that really isn’t a standard question, but more-so a rhetorical and silly question: why would the Wizards trade Hachimura to the Lakers for a bunch of old men and some second-round picks when they just drafted this stud? Well, going back to the Westbrook trade, sadly so, the Lakers gave up wing Kyle Kuzma to the Wizards, resulting in the Wizards now having a logjam at the wing position.                 

Prior to trade, as referenced prior, Hachimura started every single regular season game and every single playoff game (at least in the minute capacity), but since acquiring Kyle Kuzma from the Lakers, everything changed: for Kuzma to “spread his wings,” as referenced from his Instagram page when traded (spoiler alert: he did not ‘spread his [or any] wings), to Hachimura’s interval period as a Wizard, which once seemed like it would be an eternity, to circling back to, ironically, Pelinka. Since the acquisition of Kuzma, Hachimura would be benched the next sixty-three of seventy-two games — Kuzma became the priority, he became Hachimura’s replacement.

                  Time was ticking…ticking fast for the Wizards. They needed to commit to one, at least, according to their viewpoints, and once both Kuzma and Hachimura were contract extension eligible, they decided that they could not pay both…wait, wrong terminology. They decided that they wouldn’t pay both. Why? Well, it was partially due to being cheap and partially due to ego-managing issues. Rui saw his replacement here and he was not silent about it.

                  As the Wizards and Hachimura did not come to mutual agreement on a contract extension, he decided to speak up and be his own voice, rather than one speaking for him. “No comment.” These were the first words that Hachimura had when talking during a news conference in the Capital One Arena hallway. After finally conjuring some courage and strength, he changed his tone of diction, now being firmer in his response, saying, “I don’t know.” Once those words uttered from his vocal cords, he sent a singular message, but in two various directions. The first direction was to the Wizards, clearly displaying discomfort in his role, unsure of wanting to be with the organization that drafted him, and the second direction was to the league — the unsaid question of: who is going to come and swoop me from this disastrous situation, saving me [Hachimura] in the process? Almost yearning for a classic happily ever after fairytale storybook ending.

                  And so, he got his wish. Rob Pelinka had just agreed to move guard, Kendrick Nunn and three-second round draft picks for Wizards forward, Hachimura. He was finally blissful, motivated, and most importantly, free from the invisible shackles. His role and impact with the Lakers were almost instantaneous. Throughout his first season in LA, Hachimura became one of the best hybrid-wing role players in the NBA. He helped the Lakers achieve something they haven’t done in nearly three seasons: the Western Conference Finals. Throughout his first playoff run in LA, Hachimura put up averages of 12.2 points per game, 3.6 rebounds per game on 55.7 percent from the field and 48.7 percent from behind the arch. Just immaculate numbers from a role player playing the most valuable and needed position in the league, while having room to grow due to his young age. The highlight game of Hachimura’s career came throughout his first ever playoff game in LA, putting up twenty-nine points, six rebounds, hitting five of six threes.

                  Fast-forward to today’s Lakers, Hachimura is thriving unlike ever prior with newly acquired global superstar, Luka Dončiċ. Prior to his left patellar tendinopathy injury, Hachimura averaged 17.9 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game on 42 percent from behind the arch and 66 percent true shooting. In the minds of many, he is one of the fourth options in the NBA, and in the minds of some, he is the best fourth option in the NBA. Hachimura has the fourth highest plus-minus combined of the entirety of the Lakers season at a plus 158, via statmuse.

If LA makes a deep run this season or any season in the near future, this is a move that will go under the radar, but it is Pelinka’s biggest heist to date, excluding the famous Dončić trade. Acquiring a young wing for Nunn, who was playing overseas shortly after getting moved and some measly second round picks with little-to-no value, is something I cannot say I saw coming. But what I can profoundly say is that LakerNation, or Laker fans, at least most of them, are proud of the young man’s services to the organization and are hoping for many more gradual years of service. One day he will stand on the podium, teammates with Dončiċ (and hopefully James), celebrating the Larry O’Brian trophy as a Los Angeles Laker. As I sit here and write this article, I want to say that I am proudly dedicating this article to Rui Hachimura and all his fans around the beautiful globe.