The Los Angeles Lakers are mere months away from deciding the role Rui Hachimura will play in the Luka Doncic era. Hachimura will become an unrestricted free agent after the 2025-26 season concludes and will thus be the focal point of internal and external debates pertaining to fit and salary.
While many Lakers fans agree that Hachimura has shown clear signs of progress that warrant an investment beyond the 2025-26 season, re-signing him isn't as simple as it sounds.
Hachimura has steadily emerged as a high-level forward capable of complementing Doncic, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves. He's on pace to set a new career best in points per game and shoot well over 40.0 percent from beyond the arc for the fourth time in five seasons.
Compounded by the fact that Hachimura offers consistent energy and effort on defense, there's seemingly every reason to believe re-signing him would be the smart decision.
Unfortunately, the context of the Hachimura dilemma is that there's more at play than a simple analysis of what he offers individually. Los Angeles has an abundance of moving pieces and a dire need for responsible cap management as the limited timeline it's been given to build around Doncic takes hold.
Re-signing Hachimura should absolutely remain a priority, but the Lakers may ultimately learn that it's not the obvious choice some fans hope it will be.
Re-signing Rui Hachimura requires other moving pieces to settle first
Doncic is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent in 2028. With this in mind, the Lakers effectively have three years to convince the new face of the franchise that he should sign on to spend the rest of his prime in Los Angeles.
Factoring in that both James and Reaves are expected to enter free agency in 2026, the Lakers have no margin for error during the upcoming offseason.
Los Angeles is expected to re-sign Reaves, who's raising his market value closer and closer to a max level with every game that passes. It must also decide whether or not James factors into their long-term plans less than six months before he turns 42—assuming he doesn't retire or sign elsewhere.
One could argue that the Lakers will then be able to re-sign Hachimura without hesitation, but three key factors remain essential to consider: Finances, defense, and a competitive market.
Finances, defense, market value to decide Rui Hachimura's Lakers future
The first element of the discussion is the simple fact that the Lakers could have two players making upward of $40 million in Doncic and Reaves in 2026-27 and beyond. They're certainly not strangers to such a situation, but whether it's been Anthony Davis or Doncic with James, Los Angeles has wisely avoided paying any other player more than Hachimura's 2025-26 salary of $18,259,259.
If the market is competitive and Hachimura is able to make upward of $20 million per season, then the Lakers could find it difficult to justify a long-term investment in his future.
Doncic and Reaves are exceptional offensive players, but their defensive inconsistency is impossible to overlook. That makes it essential for every other player on the court to excel in that regard, and not just in the capacity of effort and intensity.
While Hachimura is certainly a quality defender, he's yet to display the ability to meet top-tier scorers at the point of attack and play up to the lockdown standard.
That isn't necessarily a knock against Hachimura as much as it's an acknowledgment of the Lakers' top two players' limitations. With both soon to make massive money, the Lakers will need every other penny spent to compensate for their shortcomings—and Hachimura may not be the ideal fit in that regard.
Perhaps the Lakers will acquire a point of attack defender and Hachimura's value will thus become easier to decipher, but in the meantime, his future remains unclear.