The Los Angeles Lakers went through a major facelift this summer in terms of their roster makeup. They brought in nine new players while losing LeBron James, Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura and a few other key rotation players.
Hachimura had been a mainstay on the Lakers dating back to his arrival in a trade with the Washington Wizards in January 2023. While some fans were frustrated with his weak rebounding and inability to guard opposing wings, he became a highly accurate 3-point shooter, and his ability to score in isolation situations often came in handy.
He decided to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers this summer, and on Friday, he returned to Crypto.com Arena to play against the Lakers. While he hit just five of his 14 shot attempts in a 125-117 Lakers win, he did find the time to briefly reconnect with a few of his old teammates.
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At one point, he and Luka Doncic exchanged some trash talk, and he commented on that exchange after the game.
"He was just trying to talk trash or whatever," Hachimura said. "But I don't care about that stuff. Me and him, I had a good time with him, two years with the Lakers. I'm happy to see him. He's healthy, back on the court."
During his time with the Lakers, Hachimura averaged 12.3 points a game on 51.6% shooting from the field and 41.5% from 3-point range during the regular season, and he delivered some big scoring performances during the playoffs. In last season's playoffs, he made 56.9% of his 3-point attempts, making him the NBA's all-time leader in career playoff 3-point accuracy at 51.6%.
This article originally appeared on Lakers Wire: Rui Hachimura on exchanging trash talk with Luka Doncic on Friday