Everyone has been talking about the upcoming free agency of LeBron James and what he could decide to do in the coming weeks. But the Los Angeles Lakers will have a few other free agents, including forward Rui Hachimura.
Hachimura saw his scoring drop a bit this season to 11.5 points a game, as coach JJ Redick moved him to the bench at midseason. But he shot 51.4% from the field and 44.3% from 3-point range during the regular season, and in the playoffs, he was scorching. He put up 17.5 points per game and made 54.9% of his overall shot attempts and 56.9% of his attempts from downtown in 10 postseason games this spring.
Hachimura’s superb outside shooting should result in him having multiple suitors in free agency. Insider Jake Fischer wrote that the Brooklyn Nets and San Antonio Spursare interested in going after the Japanese native.
“Brooklyn keeps coming up as a likely suitor, too, for the Lakers’ Rui Hachimura, league sources say,” Fischer wrote. “The Nets and Spurs are two teams we’ve heard have interest in adding Hachimura’s services, while the Spurs are also faced with resolving Harrison Barnes’ future as the veteran forward heads toward unrestricted free agency.”
In particular, the Spurs are an interesting candidate. Having just lost to the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals despite being favored, they will surely look to add veterans to what is currently a very young roster. In particular, they have a hole at the power forward position.
At 6-foot-8 and 230 pounds, Hachimura isn’t a good rebounder, but he has enough size to play the 4 effectively, and he has displayed spurts of strong defense against opposing big men. He made $18.26 million this season while playing for Los Angeles.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Two teams are reportedly interested in Rui Hachimura
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