Former Washington Wizards forward to start on potential contender
After being traded by the Washington Wizards for little to nothing before the trade deadline last season, Rui Hachimura was given a chance to succeed with the Los Angeles Lakers and he ran with that opportunity.
After a strong push in the second half of the season to help the Lakers make a miraculous playoff appearance he proceeded to double down and build on that performance in the playoffs.
In the post season Hachimura averaged 12.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game and was key to the only defense that even kind of worked against Nikola Jokic. More impressive, he only played 24.3 minutes per game in the 16 games the Lakers played in the playoffs and his efficiency was on a level he never reached with the Wizards.
After signing big man Christian Wood, it was announced by The Athletic that the Lakers will likely start Rui Hachimura (paywall) next season next to Anthony Davis and LeBron James. A complete kick to the shins of the Washington Wizards.
Rui Hachimura never got a real shot with the Washington Wizards
Despite only being 25 years old at the time of writing this, Rui Hachimura has only really been given two years to start consistently in his career so far both of which came during his three and a half seasons with the Wizards. Even in those two seasons, he was not given a consistent role or even one that maximized his strengths.
His development was stinted by trying to stay competitive with a subpar roster and investing in other young forwards before he was even given an opportunity to be the second option on the team.
The decision to trade the Japanese forward was made in order to clear up minutes for Deni Avdija who failed to take the next step that many hoped he would.
This was particularly frustrating at the time as he was beginning to piece things together as the primary scoring option off the bench. Now they have a small handful of draft picks and a free agent they let walk to show for their years of half-hearted effort in his development.
The Washington Wizards now have to watch their former draft pick flourish on another team as begin a new rebuild. Maybe the new regime in the front office learned from their predecessor’s mistakes and can avoid going down the same path.
