Rui Hachimura #28 of the Los Angeles Lakers
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We are just four days from the NBA trade deadline, and with the Los Angeles Lakers looking back at the anniversary of the Luka Doncic trade, it’s a good reminder that things can happen quite suddenly–and quite out of the blue–at this time of year. That’s a positive bit of reinforcement for those worried that the Lakers will let Thursday pass without doing much of anything to improve the team.
That does have to be considered an increasingly possible result, as the Lakers are hoping to accomplish multiple goals at the deadline, though some of those goals appear to run at odds with each other. The Lakers would like to bring in a perimeter ball-stopping defender, for example, but do not want to take on salary beyond this season and don’t want to give up their only tradeable first-round pick, in 2031.
Oh, and they also don’t want to give up injured star guard Austin Reaves.
That narrows the options considerably. But the hope in L.A. is that there is a player on hand–Rui Hachimura–who holds enough interest for opposing teams to warrant making a deal.
Lakers Found Some Teams With Rui Hachimura Interest
Asked about the Lakers’ outlook, on league executive said the goal appears to be finding a team that has interest in Hachimura beyond this season and swapping him out for another expiring contract. Hachimura will be a free agent in the summer and there are teams with an interest in signing him. That would be an easier process if he’s already on the team’s books.
“There are teams they like Rui and would want to keep him with Bird rights,” the executive said. “But first you’ve got to find a team that wants him, and then you have to see if there’s anything that matches up with what they need, and then you’ve got to make sure the contract does not last past this year. They’re listening on him. They’re shopping him. But they’re not getting the return they want for him.”
So, it’s tricky, but that is what the Lakers are attempting to do here.
Hachimura is in the last year of a three-year, $51 million contract and is coming off a calf injury. He’s moved to the bench since coming back, and has played well in his new role, averaging 11.6 points on 45.5% shooting and 41.5% 3-point shooting in his last nine games.
NBA Trade Deadline Options Appear Limited
The Lakers do appear to have dwindling options on the trade market, though. There is still interest in the Mavericks’ Naji Marshall as well both of the Pelicans‘ young wings, Trey Murphy and Herb Jones. But the asking price is out of range for the Lakers thus far, and unless the price drops considerably, the Lakers will simply miss out on an wing upgrade.
The Timberwolves’ Donte DiVincenzo was mentioned by the L.A. Times as a possibility for the Lakers, but word from Minnesota is that there is no interest in moving on from DiVincenzo.
One of the Lakers’ chief targets, Keon Ellis of the Kings, was dealt to Cleveland over the weekend with former Laker Dennis Schroder for another supposed Lakers target, De’Andre Hunter of the Cavs. It marked a lot of Lakers-related activity but not actual Lakers moves, and unfortunately, that could be a harbinger of the rest of the deadline to come.
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Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including "Fun City," "Before Wrigley became Wrigley," and "Facing Michael Jordan." More about Sean Deveney