For three and a half seasons, Rui Hachimura called Southern California home as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. He had previously played for the Washington Wizards after he was the No. 9 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, and the Japanese native took his time adjusting to life on the West Coast.
Hachimura quickly became a key member of the Lakers and elevated his game with them, particularly his 3-point shooting, which has become a major strength of his. This summer, he left as a free agent to join the Los Angeles Clippers, but fans of the Purple and Gold took a liking to him over the last few years.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves joked that he wasn't sure if Hachimura had overcome the language barrier in his early weeks with the team, via Lakers Nation.
“He’s an unbelievable human. I didn’t know if he spoke English for the first two weeks,” Reaves said after practice earlier in the week. “I sat by him on the plane, and he didn’t speak to me, and after that I couldn’t get him to shut up (laughs). So great guy, great player and I miss him.”
In his time with the Lakers, Hachimura averaged 12.3 points and shot 41.5% from 3-point range during the regular season, and he had a number of big offensive outings with them during the playoffs. In fact, his volcanic outside shooting in last season's playoffs made him the NBA's current leader in career playoff 3-point accuracy at 51.6%.
It is an aspect of his game he worked hard on to improve, along with the help of former Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy, who is regarded as perhaps the league's best player development coach. He has given himself the luxury of remaining in town by choosing to sign with the Clippers, but it is fairly safe to say he won't get to participate in the postseason this coming spring, as the Clippers are expected to be one of the NBA's worst teams.
Hachimura returned to Crypto.com Arena on Friday as the Clippers took on the Lakers. He scored 16 points but shot just 5-of-14 from the field as the Lakers won 125-117, but the Lakers did pay tribute to him by showing a video montage at one point during the contest.
This article originally appeared on Lakers Wire: Austin Reaves jokes about Rui Hachimura's first few weeks with Lakers