Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Los Angeles Lakers forward Rui Hachimura will participate in his second Olympics in 2024, as he was named to the final roster for Japan’s men’s basketball team.
Hachimura also represented Japan in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The Lakers forward decided to suit up this summer after declining to do so in the 2023 FIBA World Cup after the Lakers made a lengthy playoff run to the Western Conference Finals.
Hachimura will be the third Lakers player that is participating in the Paris Olympics, as LeBron James and Anthony Davis are both a part of Team USA.
In the 2020 Olympics, Hachimura played well for Japan, averaging 22.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game while shooting 40.9 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from beyond the arc.
After opening the Olympics with a 20-point game against Spain, Hachimura had his best game of Japan’s three-game run against Slovenia. The former first-round pick had 34 points on 13-of-28 shooting, seven rebounds and three assists.
He followed that performance up with a double-double (13 points and 11 rebounds) against Argentina, but he shot just 6-for-17 from the field in that matchup.
This is a great chance for Hachimura to showcase his game as a top option on a team, especially since a lot of his NBA playing time comes alongside stars like James and Davis. For Japan, he’ll likely be one of the go-to players on offense all Olympics.
During the 2023-24 season, Hachimura appeared in 68 games for the Lakers and made 39 starts. He had a great season shooting the ball from beyond the arc (42.2 percent) and averaged 13.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 26.9 minutes per game.
Since coming to Los Angeles in a trade with the Washington Wizards during the 2022-23 season, Hachimura has been an important role player for the Lakers.
He’s certainly improved as a 3-point shooter since the last time he played in the Olympics, as Hachimura has multiple seasons (the 2021-22 campaign and the 2023-24 campaign) where he has shot over 40 percent from beyond the arc.
Over his first two NBA seasons, Hachimura shot just 28.7 percent (the 2019-20 season) and 32.8 percent (the 2020-21 season) from deep.
It’ll be interesting to see how far he can carry Japan in the Olympics this summer.
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