As the NBA trade deadline gets closer the Los Angeles Lakers rumors are only going to grow stronger. The Lakers have struggled since winning the In-Season Tournament and look like a team that needs to make an improvement via trade at the deadline.
There are a myriad of directions that the Lakers can go in, most of which include trading forward Rui Hachimura. Los Angeles traded for Hachimura last season and signed him to a three-year, $51 million contract as a restricted free agent over the summer.
Hachimura has not been able to carve out a consistent role in Darvin Ham's rotation and his contract figure is at a number that is very easy to trade. For that reason, Hachimura has become one of the favorites to be traded by the Lakers during the season. All that being said, Hachimura may have revealed his trade fate with a pretty sizeable purchase off the court.
Rui Hachimura's new house in LA may indicate he will be with the Lakers for the long haul
Rui Hachimura reportedly just purchased a $7.2 million home in Encino and that alone might be enough evidence to assume that he plans to stay on the Lakers long-term. Of course, the ball is ultimately in the Lakers' court and they don't need Hachimura's permission; but it is an interesting purchase at an interesting time given the circumstances.
No player in their right mind would purchase a home that is worth almost half of their yearly salary in an expensive part of the country if they thought that they were going to be leaving in a month. Sure, there are a lot of athletes that reside in Los Angeles in the summer, but would Hachimura really make this big of a purchase for what would essentially be a summer home?
Plus, there are more "luxurious" areas where Hachimura could have purchased a summer home than Encino. Nothing against Encino but that is the kind of place you settle down if you plan to live there all year, not just in the summer months.
But then again, maybe we are all just looking too much into this real estate purchase. After all, Anthony Davis sold his mansion in early 2021 and many looked into that as a sign of something bigger only for Davis to buy another house in LA shortly thereafter.
It would be a bummer if Hahcimura just paid that much money on a house in Encino just so he can be shipped off to somewhere like Chicago. He doesn't seem to be worried about that possibility.