LOS ANGELES – While the Los Angeles Lakers’ ‘Big 3’ of LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves have drawn the majority of attention regarding news headlines heading into the NBA Playoffs, Rui Hachimura has quietly been one of the team’s most dependable role players especially after retuning from a knee injury.
Rui Hachimura was out of the Lakers’ lineup for 12 games during early March as he recovered from a knee injury. He made his return on Mar. 22, and had been sitting out on back-to-backs to close out the regular season. When he initially returned to the lineup, Hachimura admitted that he was not going to be 100 percent until sometime after the season and playoffs were already over.
But speaking to reporters at practice on Wednesday, Hachimura acknowledged that his knee is in much better shape than the last time he spoke about it.
“It’s for sure better. It’s better than the last time talked about it. My knee is doing better. I can jump now,” Hachimura said. “I just got to manage it. We don’t have a back-to-back in the playoffs. . .I just have to manage it and play each game as best as possible.”
Hachimura has thrived alongside the Lakers’ Big 3 of James, Doncic and Reaves, especially with strong cuts along the baseline and catch and shoot three-point shots. He appeared in 59 games this season, with 57 starts, at a little over 31 minutes per game.
He averaged 13.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists with splits of 50.9 percent shooting from the field, 41.3 percent shooting from the three-point line and 77 percent shooting from the free-throw line. He is part of a group of role players including Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes and Dorian Finney-Smith who are going to need to have big games as the Wolves defense focuses on the Big 3.
“They’re probably, I’m guessing, double-teaming Bron, Luka, maybe AR, so all these guys like me, Dodo [Dorian Finney-Smith], Jax [Jaxon Hayes], Gabe, we need to be ready,” Hachimura said. “We need to be ready to help them make shots, whatever. . .that’s going to be big for us and we’ve got to focus on it.”
The Lakers open their first round playoff series against the Wolves on Saturday at home. This was the first season since the inception of the play-in that the Lakers have been able to make the playoffs outright. In JJ Redick’s inaugural season as head coach, the team secured the No. 3 seed in the West and finished with 50 wins.
