Midway through the fourth quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 113-104 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, head coach Darvin Ham called a couple of left-block post-ups for newcomer Rui Hachimura. Ham often deploys those post actions for Anthony Davis, but he wanted to see what he had with Hachimura, his newest weapon.
Davis, who was making his long-awaited return after missing 20 games due to a right foot injury, noticed.
“I’ve got to talk to Coach about this,” Davis joked. “But some of the plays we ran for me, we ran for (Hachimura) tonight. ‘AD, you go in the corner.’ ‘OK . . .'”
After seeing Hachimura score and draw a foul on two possessions, Davis was sold. Then, he started hyping up the player the Lakers had just acquired from the Washington Wizards for Kendrick Nunn and three second-round picks.
“Just told him, ‘If they don’t double, you don’t pass. You go to work,’” Davis said. “So, he got going.”
Hachimura’s Lakers debut was promising. His numbers were in line with his averages in Washington: 12 points, six rebounds, one assist and one steal in 22 minutes. While those figures aren’t eye-popping, he showed elements of his game that the Lakers have missed since their 2019-20 title season. Hachimura played like the spiritual successor to the hybrid forward role Kyle Kuzma and Markieff Morris played that season — showcasing an ability to play multiple positions, finish in transition and exploit mismatches, whether off the dribble or in the post. The Lakers outscored the Spurs by 17 points with Hachmiura on the floor, the best mark on the team.
It was only one game against the 14-35 Spurs, who own one of the NBA’s four worst records. There will inevitably be growing pains. But Hachimura already looks like he’ll be a potential difference-maker for the Lakers.
“I think he’s going to be a huge asset for us for the rest of the year,” Ham said.
Here’s one of the two post-ups Davis referenced (For the record: Davis was on the opposite wing, not the opposite corner). Dennis Schröder sets a rip screen for Hachimura that initiates a post-up on the left block. Hachimura faces up against Spurs defender Keita Bates-Diop and jab-steps, testing Bates-Diop’s footwork. Hachimura then takes two dribbles towards the paint, spins backwards and drains a silky turnaround over Bates-Diop.
Davis, LeBron James and occasionally Russell Westbrook are the only other Lakers who possess the ability to score this fluidly.
Hachimura post-ups are unlikely to be a crunch-time staple, but the Lakers can rely on them against lesser second-unit opponent lineups or when they use a small defender against him.
“I called his number a couple of times to get him the ball in the post,” Ham said. “He’s got a good mid-range game and when he goes to the rim, he goes hard.”
Hachimura ranks 48th in the NBA in post-ups per game, averaging only 1.4, according to NBA.com/Stats. But he ranks 16th in field-goal percentage on post-ups (55.6 percent) among those players, suggesting the Lakers could unlock more with him on the block.
Transition play was another area in which Hachimura was immediately effective. He ran his lanes well and maintained proper spacing, fitting into the Lakers’ run-first approach.
Watch the two plays in this clip, which each show Hachimura starting behind several players before accelerating past them to make himself a target for the transition ballhandler. In the first play, he draws a foul. In the second one, he scores. Both finishes were clunky because he mishandled the passes, but those kinks can be ironed out as he and his teammates get acclimated to each other.
“I like to play fast,” Hachimura said. “Obviously, here the Lakers, they — we — like to play fast. I think it’s a great fit for me. I like to run. Everybody can pass. Everybody can push the ball. So I can push the ball. So I think it’s great.”
Hachimura’s court vision and playmaking are areas of his game that need to improve. He’s a shoot-first player who is more finisher than initiator. But he’s capable of creating offense for others in certain circumstances, as shown in the following possession. Hachimura collects the rebound and pushes the ball, surveying his options. James is open for about a second and a half before Hachimura realizes it. Still, the Spurs are too late in figuring out their assignments, so Hachimura is able to find James before Doug McDermott closes out.
It’s a simple read, albeit one made late. But it worked, and it’s a part of Hachimura’s game that he can work on while learning from generational passers like James and Westbrook.
Hachimura was essentially thrown into the fire, as most players are immediately after being traded in the middle of the season. He briefly went over the Lakers’ offensive sets and defensive system with assistant coaches during the team’s walkthrough on Wednesday morning. Otherwise, he was largely operating off instinct, which further underscores how naturally he fills a void as a big, athletic, offensive-minded jack-of-all-trades.
“He’s just out there to play the right way and just watching him over the years, he’s a seamless fit,” Ham said. “He’s going to go and he’s not going to try to run into anyone else’s space if they are looking for an opportunity to score or if the play call is for them. He’s just going to space out the right way, slash when he needs to slash and just play within himself.”
Players in new situations typically act more deferential initially in an attempt to fit in. Hachimura finished just 13.6 percent of the Lakers’ possessions while he was on the floor Wednesday, a much lower mark than his annual averages in Washington, which hovered between 18 to 20 percent. He will inevitably become more comfortable and start to spread his wings, so to speak, offensively. There will be times he takes questionable shots. His defensive engagement was an issue in Washington, yet he was active and focused for much of the Spurs game. It remains to be seen if he’ll remain as energized as the season progresses.
But it was immediately clear that a trio of Davis, James and Hachimura along the front line is big and versatile enough to challenge most opponents. Teams already have a tough time defending James and Davis with similar-sized players. Hachimura will often face the smallest and/or worst of the three frontcourt defenders, a player he can exploit in the post or the mid-range by shooting over. Again, think of the role Morris occupied in 2020, or even the way his twin brother Marcus plays for the LA Clippers.
Hachimura’s presence did not eliminate the Lakers’ problematic three-guard lineups; they still need Austin Reaves and Lonnie Walker IV to return to stabilize the rotation. But once the Lakers are whole, the 6-foot-8 Hachimura should be replacing a nearly 6-foot guard in most lineups, making the Lakers a larger and more formidable team.
Boston, a wing-heavy team and arguably the championship favorite, will be an interesting test for Hachimura on both ends of the floor on Saturday. But his debut has the Lakers players feeling optimistic.
“He can really, really help us on both ends of the floor,” Davis said.
“Obviously, getting him acclimated with the team is going to take time. But it looked like he was able to fit in really well.”
(Photo: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
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