While the Lakers acquired a number of players at the trade deadline, none of them exceeded expectations quite like Rui Hachimura did. Brought in for effectively a handful of second-round picks, Hachimura struggled a bit in the regular season before finding his footing and exploding in the playoffs.
The Lakers rewarded him handsomely in the offseason, something they always planned on doing, and it looks like Rui is ready to reward the franchise back. This offseason, Rui Hachimura spent the summer working out alongside LeBron James with the all-time scoring leader dubbing him his “understudy” as Darvin Ham revealed in Thursday’s media availability.