Well, Rui Hachimura will be back in Los Angeles next season, just not with the Lakers, as ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania reported that the wing agreed to a two-year, $28 million deal with the Clippers. At least Peyton Watson is still on the table for the purple and gold, right? Technically speaking, yes, since he is still on the restricted free agent market, but it's looking like he, too, truly has a much better chance of ending up with that other team.
Shortly after the Hachimura news broke, insider Jake Fischer tweeted that the Clippers' pursuit of Watson is still alive and well.
The Clippers are signing Rui Hachimura by way of their mid-level exception, per source. The two-year, $28 million deal has a team option in the second season, and I’m being told does not rule out Los Angeles from a sign-and-trade pursuit of Nuggets restricted free agent Peyton…
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) July 6, 2026
So, there is a world where the Clippers will get Hachimura (on a team-friendly deal, mind you) and Watson in the same offseason. It sounds a lot like what Lakers fans wanted entering the summer, because it is. The dream is coming alive in LA, but for those who choose to go to Intuit Dome for their basketball viewing pleasure.
Lakers could lose Rui Hachimura and Peyton Watson to Clippers
Los Angeles' top priorities entering the offseason revolved around Luka Dončić, with the biggest one being agreeing to a new deal with Austin Reaves. Beyond that and the team's need for a center, the Lakers knew they needed to surround their superstar point guard with talented 3-and-D wings.
Retaining Hachimura would've helped check that box, but after the team's flurry of moves on the second day of free agency, the odds of that happening dropped significantly because the Lakers no longer had the cap space they did at the start of the day.
As Dave McMenamin of ESPN pointed out, though, that didn't rule out LA from keeping the 28-year-old. The Lakers could've cleared some hurdles to create cap space for a player who was thought to make a little more (or around) the $18.2 million he did last season, but Hachimura will make a few million less than that with the Clippers, as if his departure didn't already sting enough.
It hurts enough to lose Hachimura, but seeing the Clippers agree to sign him to a contract of that value? And knowing they are still in a position to land Watson, who is only 23, in a sign-and-trade?
Los Angeles' offseason looks better than it did after last week's news that LeBron James would play elsewhere next season, unless you think the Walker Kessler sign-and-trade will age as poorly as the majority of the NBA world thinks it will. It's not the time for that conversation, though.
If the Lakers could've managed to re-sign Hachimura and steal Watson from the Nuggets on top of their other moves, the sun would shine even brighter in Los Angeles. If only.
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