When the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Rui Hachimura in late January for the bargain-basement price of little-used Kendrick Nunn and three second-round draft picks, it marked the beginning of their miraculous turnaround.
At the time, they were treading water and couldn’t reach the .500 mark. But Hachimura gave them much-needed depth and firepower at the forward position, and the arrival of D’Angelo Russell and Jarred Vanderbilt in February made them ready to take off.
The Lakers had one of the NBA’s best records after the All-Star break, and the momentum took them all the way to the Western Conference finals. With Hachimura and others back this season, they have a real shot at winning it all.
Growing up in Japan, the 6-foot-8 man started playing baseball, which is a popular sport there, as a child. Once he hit his teens, he switched to playing basketball, but it wasn’t for the reason most NBA players first picked up the sport.
Shoutout to the kids that annoyed Rui into playing basketball at 13.
Get to Know | @rui_8mura pic.twitter.com/jaRqIqVNXV
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) September 26, 2023
“Baseball was my first sport, I played baseball for six years. I was 13-years-old when I switched to basketball. First memory I had was I didn’t want to play basketball, the teammates back then in junior high school, they really wanted me to play basketball because I was you know, tall, whatever, I was athletic. I just didn’t think basketball was good for me because I didn’t really like to run. They were so annoying it got to the point I’m like, ‘OK, I’m just going to go one time for practice.’ And I went the one time and for some reason, yeah, I fell in love.”
With his one-on-one scoring skills and ability to finish strongly in transition and play strong, effective defense, it looks like Hachimura chose the correct sport.