Rui Hachimura is a lights-out shooter, the only one this year's Los Angeles Lakers truly employ. The need for that skill set is simple and obvious. What does not fall under that same type of straightforwardness is what the Lakers do with him from here.
This should have been easy. To start the year, Hachimura was hitting his shots at a ridiculous rate from beyond the arc. That much isn't the issue. His current 46.0 percent on 5.5 3-point attempts per game is still impressive.
However, the Lakers need defense. That much has grown more painfully true as the 2025-26 season has progressed. Does that come at the expense of Rui? It just might, considering the additional factors Bobby Marks recently reminded everyone of in his trade deadline primer.
Marks wrote, "They must also weigh an extension for Rui Hachimura, who is averaging 13.3 points per game on 53.2% shooting. If an extension is reached -- Hachimura is eligible to sign for four years, $114.5 million up to June 30 -- it would cut into the Lakers' projected $50 million in cap space."
Rui Hachimura's price tag could dictate his Lakers future
One could safely assume the Lakers do not want to pay Hachimura an average salary north of $28 million per year, as Marks suggested above. Especially in this CBA climate, Rui's position in the middle class makes a payday in Los Angeles far from a given.
If the Lakers and Hachimura are not completely seeing eye to eye on what his next deal looks like, that raises even more questions for the franchise. The sharpshooting forward suddenly looms large as an expiring contract for a number of reasons.
For one, simply losing Hachimura for nothing in free agency would not be ideal. It is worth remembering Rob Pelinka's gamble of letting Dorian Finney-Smith walk in this instance. That choice did work out for the Lakers.
Depending on Pelinka's comfort level with taking a second gamble, the Lakers general manager could simply let the situation hold until free agency to see if Hachimura would return to Los Angeles at a price everyone is comfortable with. If not, the Lakers could attempt a pivot with their cap space.
However, being an expiring contract does make anyone a prime candidate for a deadline trade. Hachimura is currently the Lakers' most expensive deal set to come off the books. There is power in that for Pelinka.
There is also uncertainty. It would have to be a game of the price is right for the Lakers, but if opportunity strikes for a real upgrade on the trade market, they probably take it.
Is there really a right answer here for what the Lakers do? No. What is a given would be the fact that this topic continues to float as relevant between now and February.